Jeremy Hunt has defended the right of the press to publish leaks after the Metropolitan Police urged news services to hand over the information.
The Conservative leadership hopeful has spoken out after the resignation of the UK's ambassador to the US.
Kim Darroch's emails, in which he said the Trump administration was "inept", were released to the Mail on Sunday last weekend.
Assistant commissioner Neil Basu, who is investigating allegations of criminal breaches of the Official Secrets Act, urged the media not to publish leaked information but to instead hand it to police.
Writing on Twitter, Mr.Hunt says he defends the right of press to publish these leaks....that is their job.
These leaks damaged UK/US relations & cost a loyal ambassador his job so the person responsible MUST be held fully to account. But I defend to the hilt the right of the press to publish those leaks if they receive them & judge them to be in the public interest: that is their job
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) July 13, 2019
