Cameron urged to explain request to Guardian on Snowden files

Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday faced calls to address parliament on why Britain's top civil servant pressured The Guardian newspaper to destroy or return Edward Snowden's leaked files.

The call from a senior lawmaker came as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's spokesman said that asking the left-leaning daily to comply was better than taking legal action over the secret documents handed over by the former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.

Two months ago, Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood, Britain's top civil servant, issued the newspaper with the ultimatum to return or destroy the material, or face court action, it emerged on Tuesday.

Politically neutral, Heywood is Cameron's most senior policy adviser and sits beside him at the cabinet table in Downing Street.

"If highly sensitive information was being held unsecurely, the government would have a responsibility to secure it," a Downing Street spokesman said.