Julian Assange branded 'miserable little worm' by UK minister

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Julian Assange has been branded a "miserable little worm" by a foreign office minister who said he should leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London and surrender to British justice.

Sir Alan Duncan said it was of "great regret" the Wikileaks founder is still avoiding arrest inside the embassy, where he has been living since June 2012.

The Europe and the Americas minister also criticised tweets posted by Mr Assange in which he claimed the "manner" and "timing" of the UK government expelling Russian spies had been "poor diplomacy".

During Foreign Office questions in the House of Commons, Sir Alan was asked to take action against the Ecuadorian embassy by former cabinet minister Sir Patrick McLoughlin.

Sir Alan replied: "It is of great regret that Julian Assange remains in the Ecuador embassy.

"It is of even deeper regret that even last night he was tweeting against Her Majesty's government for their conduct in replying to the attack in Salisbury.

"It's about time that this miserable little worm walked out of the embassy and gave himself up to British justice."

Mr Assange responded to Sir Alan's comment with a tweet.

"As a political prisoner detained without charge for 8 years, in violation of 2 UN rulings, I suppose I must be 'miserable'; yet nothing wrong with being a 'little' person although I'm rather tall; and better a 'worm', a healthy creature that invigorates the soil, than a snake," he said.

Mr Assange says the real reason for his legal troubles is the fact WikiLeaks published US diplomatic and military secrets, and he fears if he leaves the embassy he risks being extradited to the United States.

He considers himself to be under arbitrary detention in the Ecuadorean embassy - a description of his situation rejected by the British authorities, who say he voluntarily went into the building and could leave anytime if he were prepared to face up to the consequences of his actions.

He entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of sex crimes, which he has always denied.

Last month, a British judge refused to halt legal proceedings against Mr Assange for jumping bail and said he was "a man who wants to impose his terms on the course of justice".

British police ended their permanent guard on the embassy in October 2015 but said they would maintain "covert tactics" to arrest Mr Assange if he left.

At the time, they said £12.6m had been spent on guarding the embassy.

Additional reporting by agencies