David Cameron went on an official visit to Washington with the hope of winning the backing of President Obama in his battle to weaken encryption on messaging services so that security services can read messages with a warrant. But it appears that his efforts were futile.

A fact sheet released by the White House on Friday evening about the bilateral meeting of the countries failed to make any mention of encryption.

In a joint press conference, Obama said that the pair had not made any agreement on encryption either: "how to square the circle on these issues is difficult."

Obama also spoke about the benefits of civil liberty groups. "It's useful to have civil libertarians tapping us on the shoulder & reminding us people's rights are stake," he said.