“It cannot conceivably be right that newspapers or any other media organisation publishing such material face prosecution,” he added.
“In my view there is no threat to national security implied in the release of this material. It is embarrassing, but it is not a threat to national security. It is the duty of media organisations to bring new and interesting facts into the public domain. That is what they are there for.”
– Police are investigating alleged leaking of ambassador Sir Kim Darroch‘s emails
– Scotland Yard say its counter-terrorism command is leading the investigation
– Met Police say ‚there has been damage caused to UK international relations‘
– They said there is clear public interest in bringing person responsible to justice
After the ambassador submitted his resignation, explaining that he felt that speculation over his future was “making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like”, Johnson faced sharp criticism over his role in the affair, with one minister accusing him of throwing the ambassador “under the bus”.
And in language that will be viewed as an implicit criticism of Johnson’s failure to back Darroch, Theresa May told MPs: “I hope the house will reflect on the importance of defending our values and principles, particularly when they are under pressure.”
YouGov have conducted some remarkably speedy polling of the public’s attitude towards the Kim Darroch affair, although the fieldwork was conducted before his resignation.
(24.06.2019)
Mr Hunt, who is battling to become the next prime minister, earlier said he has been speaking to counterparts “regularly” about the Iran crisis which he called “extremely serious”.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that he was seeking to build a “global coalition” against Iran, branding Tehran “the world’s largest state sponsor of terror”.
He allegedly said the president’s assertion that he called off retaliatory missile strikes against the Iranian regime after a US drone was shot down because it risked killing 150 Iranians, “doesn’t stand up.”
“It’s more likely that he was never fully on board and that he was worried about how this apparent reversal of his 2016 campaign promises would look come 2020,” Darroch reportedly stated, referring to the next presidential election.
The US president had branded him „a very stupid guy“ after emails emerged where the ambassador had called his administration „clumsy and inept“.
In a letter to the Foreign Office, Sir Kim said he wanted to end speculation about his position: „The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like.