David Cameron wanted to shut down internet services during the riots this summer, it has emerged, but the Foreign Secretary cautioned a blackout would be seized on by countries such as China and Syria as evidence of British hypocrisy on free speech.
William Hague issued the warning against silencing Facebook, Twitter and the BlackBerry network at a meeting of COBRA, the government's crisis response committee, on 9 August, after vandalism and looting had spread across London to Birmingham, Manchester and elsewhere.
Two days later Mr Cameron nevertheless gave a speech in the Commons in which he said the government was “working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services".
According to John Kampfner, the chief executive of the free speech lobby group Index on Censorship Mr Cameron was keen to impose restrictions as the crisis deepened and public concern grew.
But sources said that Mr Hague opposed shutting down internet services at the COBRA meeting, despite widespread claims they were being used to encourage and organise disturbances. He said it would undermine pressure on repressive regimes to allow access to political web content and reduce their spying on citizens.
The Foreign Secretary's fears quickly proved justified. The state-run Chinese news agency, Xinhau, published an editorial during the week of the riots charging the British with hypocrisy.
