Clegg backs new press law, contradicts Cameron

LONDON (Reuters) - British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Thursday he backed new legislation to regulate the press, contradicting Prime Minister David Cameron and raising the spectre of a split in the coalition government.

"On the basic model of a new self-regulatory body, established with a change to the law in principle, I believe this can be done in a proportionate and workable way," Clegg told parliament.

"Changing the law is the only way to give us all the assurance that the new regulator isn't just independent for a few months or years, but is independent for good," he added.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas, editing by Matt Falloon)