Boris Johnson: Edward Snowden taught these terrorists how to avoid being caught

Boris Johnson today blamed American whistleblower Edward Snowden for teaching terrorists how to avoid being caught.

London's mayor, writing in the Daily Telegraph, also said the Paris attacks reinforced the government's demand for greater surveillance powers.

And he said he thought a Paris-style attack in London was unlikely but impossible to rule out.

Snowden is a former CIA employee who leaked details of the US government's secret internet surveillance programmes.

"To some people the whistleblower Edward Snowden is a hero; not to me. It is pretty clear that his beanspilling has taught some of the nastiest people on the planet how to avoid being caught," he added.