He was the hero of the left who became the champion of the right, held up as both saviour and betrayer – often at the same time.

Julian Assange and WikiLeaks stormed to notoriety in 2010 with the largest confidential document leak in modern history, the cable dump blighting those leading the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars and those at the bastion of global power.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange looks likely to remain at the Ecuadorean embassy Credit:AP

Conservative commentators called for "traitor" Assange – now languishing in Ecuador's London embassy – to be jailed for putting America's security, and its security forces, at risk.

But with the release of emails from those within the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign – which laid out DNC attitudes towards the Bernie Sanders campaign, as well as interactions with a media already viewed with suspicion – views on Assange began to shift.