Nick Clegg today furiously demanded an apology from the Home Secretary after she claimed his actions may have put children at risk.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Theresa May’s “appalling” claim that Lib Dem opposition to new snooping laws endangered youngsters was “outrageous misinformation”.
In a furious outburst on live radio he said the row following Ms May’s conference speech was a “new low point in coalition relations”.
The spat comes just days before Mr Clegg prepares to hold his annual party conference in Glasgow.
Speaking on his LBC call-in show he said: “I thought it was one of the most misleading and outrageous platform speeches I’ve heard in conference season for a very long period of time.”
He went on: “I have made it very, very clear to her that I expect an apology form her for making such a false and outrageous claim.”
During her speech earlier this week Ms May said the Communications Data Bill was needed to fight terrorism and serious crime, but that it had been “torpedoed” by Lib Dems two years ago.
She said that over a six-month period the National Crime Agency had to drop some twenty cases due to missing communications data, including “threat-to-life” cases in which a child was judged to be at risk.
Meanwhile the Met had to drop twelve cases, she said, including those involving sex offences and a kidnap.
But Mr Clegg hit back saying that it was Home Office “inactivity” that meant police had to drop the cases.
He claimed officers had been unable to match computer IP addresses to mobile phones, and that he had been pushing the Home Office to address the technical problem for months.
Mr Clegg said: “I’m entitled to feel a little bit aggrieved to hear a Conservative Home Secretary somehow claim that my party is putting children at risk when it’s their inactivity that is doing just that.”
He added: “[It’s] a level of outrageous misinformation I have to say I have not witnessed in the four and a half years I’ve been in this government.”
His claims were dismissed by Tory sources.
One said: "Nick Clegg needs to stop whinging and act his age. He should be spending less time whinging and more time delivering.”
