Nick Clegg denies claims of Queen's Brexit 'rant'

Nick Clegg has strongly denied claims the Queen backed Britain's exit from the European Union. Buckingham Palace has insisted the Queen is "politically neutral" in the EU referendum campaign, after a report published in The Sun newspaper claimed she had expressed strong Eurosceptic views.

"I think it's appalling that people who want to drag the United Kingdom out of European Union now want to drag the Queen into the referendum debate," said Clegg. "As for The Sun's story: it's not true, I couldn't be clearer than that."

Clegg said he did not recall the details of what was said in the conversation with the monarch.

"I have no recollection of this whatsoever...I suspect I would have remembered [the conversation] had it taken place," he added.