Mr Cameron said yesterday that the plans had been sanctioned by Mr Clegg himself and Chris Huhne, a senior Liberal Democrat and former Energy Secretary. “You’ve got to remember that this was a National Security Council where sitting round the table was Chris Huhne, Nick Clegg, Ken Clarke – people from impeccable civil libertarian backgrounds,” he said. “I think when people see the detail they will understand this is a very sensible way of keeping up with technology and not a snooper’s charter. And I wouldn’t as Prime Minister sanction something that was.”