‘Traitor’ Snowden ‘put UK in danger’

A former head of the Royal Navy has branded Edward Snowden a “traitor” and “irresponsible” after the US whistleblower declined to reveal if he had read every document he leaked to the press.

Alan West, a former first sea lord and security said the ex-National Security Agency (NSA) worker had made the UK public less safe as a result of the revelations he made about government-level monitoring of online communications.

His comments come after Snowden appeared on US television show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a British comedian, and was pressed on whether he had read each of the thousands of files he released.