Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims of Russian meddling, ex-MI6 spy says

A former MI6 spy has accused Boris Johnson and Theresa May of turning a blind eye to claims Vladimir Putin secretly bankrolled Brexit and held a grip on Donald Trump.

Christopher Steele, the veteran intelligence operative and Russia specialist, told MPs the May administration prioritised politics over national security.

He said the government ‘threw a blanket’ over his 2016 dossier about the US President to avoid souring relations with the White House ahead of forging a cross-Atlantic trade deal after Brexit.

The files include the now notorious allegation that Trump was filmed by Kremlin agents with sex workers in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, which has always been vehemently denied. 

Mr Steele outlined his concerns about Theresa May’s premiership, in which Mr Johnson served as foreign secretary, in confidential evidence passed to MPs writing the report into Russian meddling.

Downing Street has come under pressure to publish the findings of Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, which was pencilled for release in late 2019.

And the ex-MI6 operative’s damning testimony, which has been revealed in a forthcoming book seen by the Guardian, will reignite calls for it to be released.

Christopher Steele, the veteran intelligence operative and Russia specialist, told MPs the previous May administration prioritised politics over national security

According to the newspaper, Mr Steele told MPs ‘no inquiries were made or actions taken’ after he presented the Trump dossier after it had been filtered through intelligence chiefs to senior ministers. 

His evidence was scathing of Theresa May’s premiership, which ‘more than its predecessors is reluctant to see (or act upon) intelligence on Russian activities when this presents difficult wider political implications.

‘Examples of this include reporting on the Kremlin’s likely hold over President Trump and his family/administration and indications of Russian interference in and clandestine funding of the Brexit referendum.’

Steele is a long-standing intelligence expert who led the investigation into the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. 

After leaving MI6, he became a private intelligence operative who in late 2016 was contracted to write a report into Russian influence of Trump’s White House bid. 

President Donald Trump meets with  Boris Johnson at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2019

Trump has long been dogged by the claims Putin tried to damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

The President rubbished the allegations as ‘fake news’ when they were controversially published by Buzzfeed website in 2017. 

The veracity of the report has also been treated with scepticism because it was funded by the Democratic Party. 

Mr Steele’s evidence also portrayed Putin as a would-be puppet master who tries to steer the course of Western states.

He describes Russia as a ‘powerful rogue state,’ according to the Guardian, which also relays the ex-spy’s testimony as detailing a network of Moscow allies in London to help oligarchs penetrate ‘British political and business life’.

It will heap pressure on Number 10, who would not comment on Mr Steele’s evidence, to publish the ISC report, which was held back before the December election.

Mr Johnson fronted the 2016 Leave campaign and is a close ally of the US President. 

Christopher Steele: The British ex-spy whose Russia dossier sent shockwaves through the Trump White House

Christopher Steele, 55, embarked on a well-trodden path when he was recruited from Cambridge straight into MI6.

After a stint in London, he was stationed in Moscow just after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He returned to London and in 2006 was made head of MI6’s Russia desk, where he led the investigation into the poisoning of former Russian operative Alexander Litvinenko.

But he only became world-renowned after becoming a private intelligence hire and writing the sensational Trump-Russia dossier in 2016.

His evidence was rubbished by Trump, but formed part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

In an interview at Oxford University, Mr Steele said he had for ‘two whole days’ but was disappointed with Mueller’s final report.

‘I was surprised that very little of what I had discussed with them appeared in the final report.

He criticized the report for being ‘too narrow’ and failing to follow up on crucial evidence. 

‘There were many things about the report that were good… but other (aspects) that were not so good,’ he said. 

Mr Steele said the fact that ‘a number of witnesses—including for instance, Donald Trump Jr.’ had avoided being interviewed ‘wasn’t great.’ 

Dismissing longstanding allegations of political bias, Mr described himself as simply ‘an opponent of President Putin.’

He said that Trump is naturally hostile toward the intelligence community. 

‘Trump himself doesn’t like intelligence because its ground truth is inconvenient for him,’ he said.