Nick Clegg: Guardian material posed ‘serious threat’

Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, revealed that he approved plans ordering a top civil servant to request that the Guardian newspaper destroy top secret data, arguing that Britain would face a “serious threat to national security” if the information fell into the “wrong hands.”

According to his spokesman, Clegg was “keen to protect” the newspaper's freedom to publish data leaked to it by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. But Clegg backed the move to get the Guardian to destroy the data because it was “preferable” to a situation in which the government took legal action against the paper, his spokesman said. Theresa May, Home Secretary, said it was correct for the government to ask Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to contact The Guardian last month and discuss classified material handed over by Snowden, describing the decision to as “right and proper.” However, as the row over the government’s handling of the Snowden case continued, other nations expressed surprise at the way the UK had acted.