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Boris Johnson said he had "no idea" why he held a meeting with the boss of Trump and Brexit-backing data firm Cambridge Analytica.

The meeting with then-CEO Alexander Nix took place in December 2016, while Mr Johnson was Foreign Secretary.

Mr Johnson was questioned on the meeting by SNP MP Deirdre Brock, who has previously pressed Theresa May on her own meetings with Nix in the same month.

Cambridge Analytica has been under scrutiny over their Facebook data collection methods during the Brexit vote and 2016 US election.

Ms Brock took the opportunity of Mr Johnson's first session in the Commons as PM to quiz him on the meeting.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

She asked: "What did the Prime Minister meet Cambridge Analytica about in 2016 while he was Foreign Secretary.

"Mr Speaker I have no idea"

The previously undisclosed meeting was revealed in a Spectator blog in March last year, which claimed Mr Johnson was trying to "learn about and improve links with Team Trump."

Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, now Facebook's comms boss, said a $5 billion fine from the US Federal Trade Commission over its use of data will spark a change "deep into the bowels of the company" over how it handles personal data.

He said new privacy provisions being introduced to the firm's operations were a "belt and braces" change.

On Wednesday, the FTC announced it had agreed a settlement with the social media giant which would see it pay a £4 billion fine and introduce a number of new audits into its business that would ensure privacy and data protection were in place.

(Image: REUTERS)

It came following an investigation sparked by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Nick said: "This is a - as the name suggests - settlement between the regulator, the Federal Trade Commission and the company.

"Legally speaking the company doesn't admit culpability but it settles, and it settles in return for a very large penalty - the largest fine in the FTC's history, certainly for these kinds of issues - and a complete overhaul, deep into the bowels of the company itself in how data is handled, how it is documented, how privacy is protected and then profound governance changes.

"So a new committee on the board of the company, requirements on (chief executive) Mark Zuckerberg every 12 weeks to certify that these privacy provisions are being properly respected. So it's a belt and braces change."

(Image: PA)

The former Liberal Democrat leader also acknowledged that the company had failed to adequately protect user data in the past.

"I think it's fair to say that the company didn't do enough in the past, it's not I think fair to say that the company did nothing," he said.

"Quite a lot of new measures have been introduced in recent years to keep data safe and to try and protect people's privacy but clearly not enough, particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica revelations.

"There's a real and obvious need to make sure that new rules are in place and that is exactly what is at the heart of this settlement."