Assange, who has been living in London's Ecuadorian embassy for over two years in a bid to avoid being deported, issued a statement on Friday threatening legal action against the deputy prime minister for comments made earlier in the week.

Clegg erroneously suggested that the Australian online campaigner had been charged with an offence when commenting on new figures obtained by LBC which show that the UK taxpayer has already spent £10 million providing a round-the-clock police guard for Assange since June 2012.

In fact, although the WikiLeaks boss is facing extradition to Sweden, he has not formally been charged with any offence.