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A 19-year-old Brexiteer has claimed to be responsible for the leak of diplomatic cables that led to the resignation of the British ambassador to US.

Sir Kim Darroch quit after his scathing secret letters branding Donald Trump "inept" and "dysfunctional" were broadcast around the world.

The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the leaks.

Now Steven Edginton, a young journalist and digital strategist for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, has claimed to be responsible for obtaining the papers.

Despite his association with anti-EU politics, he says leaking the cables was not a "Brexiteer plot to topple Sir Kim" - but insists he did it only to "develop my career" as a journalist.

(Image: Twitter)

He wrote in the Mail on Sunday that he has 'a large number of Whitehall sources, including both retired and current civil servants'.

He spent over seven months on the investigation until a trusted source 'read out to me an astonishing letter written by Sir Kim (Darroch) to Sir Mark (Sedwill), Britain's national security adviser, in June 2017."

The letter indicates that Sir Kim Darroch branded Donald Trump's White House 'inept' and 'utterly dysfunctional'.

(Image: PA)

The leak prompted the US president to fire off a series of angry tweets, in which he branded Sir Kim a 'pompous fool', a 'stupid guy' and declared that his administration would no longer work with him.

Mr Edginton, who has worked as a freelance journalist as well as a strategist for the Taxpayers' Alliance and Leave Means Leave campaign, said: "The leak of Sir Kim's cables had absolutely nothing to do with the Brexit Party."

He also claimed he worked with the political journalist Isabel Oakeshott to build up the story but decided to 'leave my name out of it'.

The leaked cables led to Sir Kim Darroch's decision to stand down and days after his resignation, an investigation has launched by Scotland Yard's the counter-terrorism command.

(Image: Richard Ellis/ZUMA Wire/REX)

The 19-year-old said the investigation had left him on edge with anxiety.

Fearing that he could be arrested at any minute, Steven sent his father a text message - 'Prepare for the worst'.

He also wrote: "Last week I was eating my lunch in Victoria Tower Gardens near the House of Parliament when I spotted a middle-aged man dressed as a tourist taking pictures of me.

"He then furtively ducked behind a tree before, I think, getting into a white van."

Mr Edginton suspects he may be being followed by the security services.

His theory was backed by Ms Oakeshott, who also believed her Snapchat account was monitored by the GCHQ spy agency.

Despite his concerns, Steven pledged not to and never will reveal the name of his source.