'I don't think he made it up... but he doesn't always draw the correct judgement': Ex-UK Moscow ambassador admits he was middle man who tipped off John McCain to Trump 'dirty dossier' 

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A former British ambassador to Russia has today admitted he told John McCain about the contents of the 'dirty' Trump dossier - but denied handing it to the President-elect's sworn enemy.

Sir Andrew Wood, 77, believes its author Christopher Steele, 52, a former MI6 agent he knows from Moscow, is right to have vanished amid claims he fears for his life.  

The diplomat says the salacious file 'was pretty much public' last Autumn and spoke to Senator McCain about its contents at a Canada security conference at the time of the US election.

Donald Trump has again lashed out over the affair, calling Steele a 'failed spy' employed by 'sleazebag political operatives' and suggesting he wants to sue the ex-MI6 agent if he ever comes out of hiding.

He tweeted: 'It now turns out that the phony allegations against me were put together by my political opponents and a failed spy afraid of being sued'. 

The row has plunged Britain and Russia into a fresh outbreak of Cold War hostilities with Russia claiming Steele has never left MI6 and security sources say he spoke to UK Government officials before handing the dossier to the FBI.  

Diplomatic incident: Sir Andrew Wood met with Senator John McCain in Canada last year and discussed lurid claims about Trump's sex life - but denies he handed him the dossier

Sir Andrew described alleged dossier author Christopher Steele (pictured), a former MI6 spy who has since gone into hiding, as 'professional and thorough'

Steele, 52, was described as a 'confirmed socialist' as a Cambridge student, circled in 1985 with, among others, DJ Paul Gambaccini (second from right, front row) and That's Life star Chris Seale (front row, centre left) 

Donald Trump has again lashed out over the affair and tweeted: 'It now turns out that the phony allegations against me were put together by my political opponents and a failed spy afraid of being sued'.

But today he admitted that bogus sex claims could have been maliciously fed to Steele by his Russian sources.

Sir Andrew Wood is now at the centre of the row but denies ever having a copy of the reported and attempted to defend Steele, once MI6’s top spy on Russian affairs who lived in the shadows until being unmasked as the alleged author of the ‘dirty dossier’ on Donald Trump. 

Trump blasts 'phony allegations' cooked up by 'failed spy' and 'sleazebags'

Donald Trump has accused 'sleazebag political operatives' of making up facts in the dirty dossier, which contained unconfirmed secrets about the president-elect, and ensured a hacking report on the documents would be released in 90 days.

Trump has said there's no truth to the contents of the discredited dossier, which contained unverified information about Trump participating in alleged sex acts, that was published earlier this week by Buzzfeed.

In early-morning tweets on Friday, Trump wrote: 'It now turns out that the phony allegations against me were put together by my political opponents and a failed spy afraid of being sued.

'Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans - FAKE NEWS! Russia says nothing exists.

'Probably released by 'Intelligence' even knowing there is no proof, and never will be. My people will have a full report on hacking within 90 days!'

Sir Andrew said: 'I know him to be a very professional operator who left the secret service to operate his own company.

'I do not think he would make things up - but I do not think he would always draw the correct judgement'. 

Steele has been accused of 'appalling judgement' over the 'shaky' file containing far-fetched claims about the president-elect's sex life in Russia and MI6 boss Sir Alex Younger is said to be livid. 

One senior intelligence source called him 'an idiot' and told The Sun: 'Chris should never have accepted this bit of work. 

'It was always going to come out at some stage, as was his involvement with it, and that is deeply embarrassing to the service.' 

On fears for his safety Sir Andrew said: 'The Russians would like to know where he got his information from, assuming it is true. They (the Russians) are accustomed to taking action'.

The British ambassador to Russia between 1995 and 2000 has confirmed he met McCain, an outspoken critic of Trump, at a security conference in Canada in November.

He was there in his role as Associate Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at The Royal Institute of International Affairs, better known as the Chatham House think tank. 

Describing his exchange with John McCain he said: 'I know Chris Steele and the report we are talking about had already been seen by quite a lot of people in Washington but not by Senator McCain. I told him I was aware of what was in it but had not read it myself and still haven't'.

Sir Andrew told McCain it contained claims about Trumps links to the Russians and his 'sexual behaviour' - and that the US politician then sought out a copy himself from elsewhere. 

One of his aides was instructed to look for a man with a copy of the Financial Times and that's how the individuals met, with the source taking McCain's emissary back to his house and giving the American a copy of the documents.

The two discussed Trump's vulnerability to blackmail amid allegations contained in the discredited dossier. 

He said: 'We spoke about how Mr Trump may find himself in a position where there could be an attempt to blackmail him with Kompromat (a Russian term for compromising material) and claims that there were audio and video tapes in existence.

'There were stories about his treatment of women and we know that the FSB and KGB do regularly use honeytraps'. 

He added: 'I don’t think I have done anything wrong at all in what I have done'. 

Spooks: The Russian embassy in London suggested Steele was still working for MI6 and ‘briefing both ways’ against Mr Trump and Moscow on Twitter - Sir Andrew suggested they were judging Steele by their own standards

Sir Andrew Wood (pictured alongside former Prime Minister Tony Blair) was British ambassador to Moscow between 1995 and 2000

Pictured: Mr Steele's £1.5million home in Surrey, bristles with CCTV cameras, which is still empty today

The document, which has opened up a deep diplomatic crisis, was delivered to FBI chief James Comey by Republican John McCain, but Sir Andrew insists it was not from him. 

Sir Andrew Wood's five years as British Ambassador to Russia coincided with the arrival of Vladimir Putin first as FSB security service chief then premier, and finally acting president.

He has been married twice – to two American women - and his first wife died while he was posted to Belgrade and he had to look after their baby son. 

In a series of major developments yesterday, it emerged:

• Trump calls Christopher Steele a 'failed spy' and suggests he is on the run to avoid being sued 
• Sources told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Steele spoke to government officials before handing the dossier to the FBI;
• Until 2009, Mr Steele worked as one of MI6’s foremost ‘Kremlinologists’ heading the spy agency’s Russia desk;
• He was the first person to conclude Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko had been murdered in a Kremlin-sponsored ‘hit’, and Litvinenko’s widow said Mr Steele’s life was in danger;
• Mr Steele and his late wife suffered ‘constant harassment’ by the KGB during his posting to Moscow in the early 1990s, including an incident when Russian agents stole his wife’s favourite shoes;
• Orbis, a company co-owned by Mr Steele, made £1million in profit in the past two years;
• He worked with the FBI from 2010 onwards and helped them smash corruption at FIFA. The UK Football Association also employed him

Neighbours have said Steele fled home in his car on Wednesday.

He had asked them to look after his three cats, and there were claims last night he was in an MI6 safe house. He could also be abroad.

Russia's relations with Britain went into the deep freeze last night as Moscow blamed MI6 for the dossier of sordid claims about Donald Trump.

In an alarming Twitter post, the Russian embassy in London suggested the dossier’s alleged author, former British spy Christopher Steele, was still working for MI6 and ‘briefing both ways’ against Mr Trump and Moscow.

It came as American sources claimed that the UK Government gave the FBI permission to contact Mr Steele, who is in hiding after vanishing shortly before the damning dossier made headlines around the world. 

In an alarming Twitter post, the Russian embassy in London suggested Steele was still working for MI6 and ‘briefing both ways’ against Mr Trump and Moscow.

A Russian embassy spokesman said the tweet – which said ‘MI6 officers are never ex’ – ‘reflected the mood in Russia’.  

Sir Andrew said today: 'They are speaking in their experience of KGB officers I suspect'.

Following the tweet, Tory MP Crispin Blunt, who is conducting an inquiry into Russia, said it was a sign UK-Russian relations were the 'worst they could get in peace time'. 

Mr Blunt, an ex-army officer and foreign affairs select committee chair, said: 'For a peace time political relationship, it is about as bad as it could get.' 

Ex-ambassador to Moscow briefed McCain at security conference where Trump was the 'only thing delegates wanted to talk about'

Sir Andrew Wood's briefing for John McCain about the Trump 'dirty dossier' was at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, pictured

Sir Andrew Wood's briefing for John McCain about the Trump 'dirty dossier' was at an event dominated by discussion about his election as US president 

The meeting took place at the Halifax International Security Forum Canada in mid-November, which was dominated by gossip about the billionaire and his policies.

One seminar at the event was even called Make Democracy Great Again - and included one of Trump's famous baseball caps getting its own stool on the stage.

Other events included Russia: Putin’ the Block Back Together, and Because Syria: I’m Your Friendly Neighbourhood Terrorist. 

Sir Andrew Wood admitted today that because Trump had just won a sensational election victory it increased the importance of the report drawn up by Chris Steele last year.

There, Mr McCain sought the advice of Sir Andrew about the report on Mr Trump and the Moscow connection. 

He said its contents appeared to have increased importance because of the way 'by the way Trump talked about the hacking exercise and about the stories of his treatment of women'.

Sir Andrew knew its details but insists he never read it or had a copy and has been forced to admit he spoke to Trump's sworn enemy McCain as the report was leaked to the press and published in full by Bzzfeed.

The Halifax forum was attended by some of the world's most important politicians including UK Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, French Defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator – and 2016 vice presidential candidate – Tim Kaine.

Sir Andrew Wood was there in his role as Associate Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at The Royal Institute of International Affairs, better known as the Chatham House think tank.

He spoke at an event called Maidan, Crimea and the Obstacles to Democracy in Ukraine - which appears to have been largely behind closed doors. 

Ahead of the event, when Trump was elected, experts said that the delegates would speak about little else than the billionaire and his impact on foreign and defence policy.

Janice Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto said: 'For them, whatever else they’re worrying about, top of mind right now, is what will Donald Trump’s foreign policy be? What will his security policy be? Will it be disruptive of the existing order? Are we going to see more change than we are going to see continuity?'  

US President Elect Donald Trump was scathing with the media after the document became public

Mr Steele’s Cold War-style vanishing act reflects a career sparring with the KGB and its successor, the FSB.

He joined MI6 after graduating from Cambridge University where he was described as a ‘confirmed socialist’.

As a young intelligence officer in Moscow, he was frequently harassed by the KGB – once even complaining they had stolen his wife Laura’s high-heeled shoes from their flat.

The couple faced down Russian tanks after the fall of the Soviet Union and ‘highly capable’ Mr Steele went on to become head of MI6’s Russia desk – meaning he was one of the Secret Intelligence Service’s most senior spies.

It was no wonder he was considered hot property when he quit MI6 in 2009 to set up his own spies-for-hire firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.

Co-founded with another former MI6 officer, Christopher Burrows, it has earned £1million over the past two years and was instrumental in exposing corruption at world football body Fifa.

But it was Mr Steele’s gold-plated contacts in Moscow that led wealthy opponents of Mr Trump to the black door of Orbis’s discreet Belgravia office. They commissioned him to research Mr Trump’s dealings in Russia.

He was born in 1964 in Aden – his father was in the military – and grew up in Surrey before attending Girton College, Cambridge, and becoming president of the Cambridge Union debating society in 1986 – the same year in which Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was president of the Oxford Union.

Contemporaries recall an ‘avowedly Left-wing student with CND credentials’, while a book on the Union’s history says he was a ‘confirmed socialist’.   

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: 'Boris never met or heard of him before so they did not meet or know each other during the Foreign secretary's time at Oxford.' 

His work included collection information about corruption at football governing

Steele's work reportedly led to a lucrative deal to dig for dirt on Trump's dealings with Russia, where he worked for 20 years as a spy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But lurid claims made in the salacious Russian dossier about Donald Trump's sex life and bizarre footage allegedly held by the Kremlin's blackmail unit has seen him go to ground. 

The explosive dossier alleged Mr Trump had been cosying up to Vladimir Putin and cavorting with Russian prostitutes. The president-elect has dismissed it as ‘false and fictitious’. 

And as details of Mr Steele’s extraordinary career emerged, Marina Litvinenko told the BBC: ‘I believe it is very dangerous, particularly after the death of my husband, because when you just approach very specific information... you just easily might be killed.’ 

Mr Trump called the dossier 'fake' and 'phony', even suggesting that US secret services had leaked it to damage his reputation before his inauguration. 

He debunked the 'golden shower' claim by saying: 'Does anyone believe that? I'm a germophobe'. 

Cool under fire, famed for his discretion and a fierce critic of Putin’s Kremlin: The British Ambassador who tipped off McCain about Trump's 'dirty dossier' 

Sir Andrew Wood's five years as British Ambassador to Russia coincided with the arrival of Vladimir Putin

Sir Andrew Wood's five years as British Ambassador to Russia coincided with the arrival of Vladimir Putin first as FSB security service chief then premier, and finally acting president.

He was in charge of the UK embassy across the Moscow River from the Kremlin during some of the most momentous and fraught times in post-Soviet Russia.

He saw the decline of the ailing vodka-soaked rule of Boris Yeltsin and the rise of ex-spy Putin, and was among the first to publicly question his second bloody war in Chechnya, an early sign of the new leader's ruthlessness.

He also choreographed Tony Blair's first visit to Moscow as prime minister, briefly losing touch with the new British prime minister in the crowds on on the Moscow metro.

Known for being understated and cool under fire in his dealings with the Russians, and famed for his discretion,

Sir Andrew, now 77, represented Britain at the funeral of former Soviet first lady Raisa Gorbachev in 1999, seeing her sobbing husband Mikahil Gorbachev lean over her open coffin to give her one final hug.

The Kremlin has ridiculed the idea it holds lewd videos of Mr Trump shot at Moscow hotel

A year earlier he represented Britain at the burial of the remains of the murdered last tsar Nicholas II and immediate members of his family, which had been dug from a mineshaft in a Urals forest. He witnessed Yeltsin bow his head and denounce the 'monstrous crime' of killing the last tsar - 'one of the most shameful pages in our history'.

He faced several espionage scandals during his tenure from 1995 to 2000.

No10 defies mounting calls for clarity on what it knew about ex-MI6 agent's claims of Russian 'dirty' dossier on Donald Trump

A spokesman for the PM has insisted it will not get into 'specifics' about the row despite reports that the intelligence services knew ex-spy Christopher Steele was talking to the FBI

No10 defies mounting calls for clarity on what government knew about ex-MI6 agent's claims of Russian 'dirty' dossier on Donald Trump 

Downing Street is defying mounting calls for clarity over what the government knew about an ex-MI6 agent's claims of a Russian 'dirty' dossier on Trump.

No10 insisted it will not get into 'specifics' about the row despite reports that the intelligence services knew ex-spy Christopher Steele was talking to the FBI.

A British former ambassador to Moscow has also admitted he told Mr Trump's sworn enemy, Republican senator John McCain, about the outlandish allegations in the memos.  

The boss of MI6 is also said to be 'livid' that Mr Steele's actions have put them in a difficult position with the new US administration - just weeks before Mrs May is due to make a crucial visit to Washington where she will try to lay the groundwork for a post-Brexit trade deal. 

Tory MPs and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage have urged Mrs May to distance the UK from the memos and make clear to Mr Trump's team that the authorities had nothing to do with it.

But asked if the government had yet been in touch to reassure Team Trump there was no government involvement in Steele memos, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: ‘There is contact between the UK and the President-elect's team about plans for the forthcoming visit.’

Pressed on whether the government had been aware of the FBI’s reported request to talk to Steele about his memos, the spokesman said: 'How the FBI conducts an investigation is a matter for the FBI.

'It is not commonplace for us to get into specifics.’

A Russian diplomat was caught red handed by FSB counter-intelligence officers using high-tech communications equipment to pass secrets to British 'spies' in Moscow.

The Russians claimed no less than nine members of Sir Andrew's diplomatic team were involved in walking past the double agent with receiver devices to pick up coded messages he transmitted.

A furious Moscow initially demanded nine expulsions from the embassy, but in lengthy negotiations by the ambassador it was reduced to four. Britain in a tit for tat move threw out four Russians.

Sir Andrew also had to deal with the gruesome beheading of three Britons and a New Zealander in Chechnya, accused of being spies, and forced to make a confession, saying on camera: 'We have been recruited by the English intelligence service.'

The ambassador protested: 'It's totally absurd, everyone knows, especially in Russia, how these confessions can be obtained. Why would our special services be in Chechnya? It's not rational,'

Darren Hickey, Peter Kennedy and Rudi Petschi and Stan Shaw were installing a satellite communications system for British company Granger Telecom in Chechnya when they fell victim to the spate of kidnappings.

Earlier he worked with controversial tycoon Boris Berezovsky - who would in 2013 die in Britain in unexplained circumstances - to free aid workers Camilla Carr and Jon James, taken hostage by bandits in Chechnya, denying claims that a ransom was paid to terrorists to secure their freedom.

He was aware of the risk of sexual entrapment in Moscow.

In 1997 when then Home Secretary Michael (Lord) Howard - later to be Tory Party leader - visited Moscow, the ambassador expressed alarm at his sudden decision to go out in the evening unchaperoned by diplomats in a Lada car to visit a newly-opened Irish pub in the company of a British journalist.

Sir Andrew was also caught in a row over an expensive £11 million refurbishment of the then British embassy, converting it into solely the palatial residence for the ambassador, with Chancellor Gordon Brown complaining about the lavish lifestyle of diplomats.

Sir Andrew's led trade missions to distant regions of the country - including parts of Siberia - but he also saw the 1998 rouble crash when cowboy capitalist Russia, having rejected communism, witnessing millions lose their life's savings amid rampant inflation.

During Blair's walkabout in Moscow, the bald mayor Yuri Luzhkov sought to muscle in on event to the evidence annoyance of press secretary Alastair Campbell who barked at Sir Andrew: 'Break a line and cut him off. We're off.'

Despite this uninspiring start with the new premier, Sir Andrew later worked for Blair as an advisor on Russian investment. He also witnessed the 1996 election when Reds-to-Riches tycoons intervened to prop up a visible sick Yeltsin by bankrolling his campaign in return for ownership of Russia's most prized industrial assets.

This stopped the Communists retaking power but it was the start of the oligarch era in Russia. After retiring from the diplomat service, Sir Andrew developed business interests linked to Russia.

He became caught in controversy over Labour premier Blair's role in helping rescue a controversial £4.2 million BP deal in Russia. Earlier Sir Andrew served as ambassador to Belgrade, and in 1989 was appointed number two at the British embassy in Washington - when he is likely to have come across John McCain.

In recent years, he has been a regular at conferences in the West about Russia. He has also expressed concern at the direction of Russia under Putin. Last month he was scathing in dismissing as nonsense Russian claims to have had nothing to do with hacking the US election.

'Russia always denies bad news,' he said on Sky News. The Putin regime 'has a strong record... of this sort of behaviour'. 

Revealed: 'Ordinary 'citizen' John McCain dispatched a trusted aide across the Atlantic to get dirty dossier from ex-spy after former British diplomat told him about blackmail tapes

Sen. John McCain said he did 'what any citizen would do' in turning over the dirty dossier, which contained unconfirmed secrets about the president-elect, over to the FBI.

The Guardian charted the path of how the dossier came to be and how it was that McCain got his hands on the controversial documents. 

The story of the dossier began with an investigative firm in Washington, D.C., being tapped by one of Trump's primary allies to dig up some opposition research on the Republican hopeful.  

In turn, that firm outsourced the research to a 'retired western European former counter-intelligence official, with a long history of dealing with the shadow world of Moscow's spooks and siloviki (securocrats),' explained the Guardian. 

Shortly after the election,John McCain (centre) was attending a conference in Canada and spoke with a 'former senior western diplomat' who knew of the dossier's existence.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal identified the ex-spy as Christopher Steele.  

By the time the contractor had started digging, Trump's primary opponent had dropped out. But the firm found a Democrat who wanted dirt on the now Republican nominee instead. 

The Guardian pointed out that just because a Democrat was willing to pay for the information that didn't mean that said Democrat was Hillary Clinton's campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

Sometimes donors seek out this information in order to ensure they've made a sound investment. 

The contractor, who the Guardian didn't name, but the Wall Street Journal identified as Steele, reportedly found the information that he dug up to be concerning. He and another ex-British diplomat, Christopher Burrows, run their own company, Orbis Business Intelligence.

'If the allegations were real, their implications were overwhelming,' the Guardian wrote.  

So over the summer he delivered the intelligence he had gathered from his Russian sources, living within the country and also in the west, to former colleagues in the FBI. 

The Guardian suggested he also delivered the documents to his country's own intelligence service.  

As fall approached, and he heard nothing about any FBI investigation into the documents, he was persuaded to tell journalist David Corn, of Mother Jones, of their existence. 

The veteran reporter wrote about the dossier on October 31. 

The intelligence agent, the Guardian reported, was worried about an FBI cover-up, as the bureau seemed to be spending most of its time and energy on an investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.  

It wasn't until mid-November, and after the presidential election, that the chips fell in place for the dossier to make its more public way to Washington. 

London headquarters: This is the prestigious London headquarters of the intelligence firm run by an ex-spy who authored the discredited dirty dossier on Trump

On November 18, at the Halifax International Security Forum, McCain was introduced to a 'former senior western diplomat' who had set eyes on the documents and knew who put them together, telling the Arizona Republican that the individual was 'highly reliable.' 

That man can now be named as Sir Andrew Wood, British ambassador to Moscow from 1995 to 2000.

Wood told the Independent that he had met McCain, spoken to him about Trump, and about the potential for him to be compromised.

In a carefully nuanced statement he said: 'Yes I did meet Senator McCain and his aides at the conference.

'We spoke about the kind of activities the Russians can be engaged in.

'We also spoke about how Mr Trump may find himself in a position where there could be an attempt to blackmail him with Kompromat [a Russian term for compromising material] and claims that there were audio and video tapes in existence.'

He added: 'I would like to stress that I did not pass on any dossier to Senator McCain or anyone else and I did not see a dossier at the time. I do know Christopher Steele and in my view he is very professional and thorough in what he does.'

He did not however address whether he told McCain there was a dossier - and how to get it. 

Clearly, somebody did.  

Ultimate recipient: The FBI Director James Comey was handed the document by McCain after its extraordinary transatlantic journey

From there, McCain dispatched a 'trusted emissary' who flew across the Atlantic to meet the source of the documents at an airport that the Guardian did not name. 

The aide was instructed to look for a man with a copy of the Financial Times  and that's how the individuals met, with the source taking McCain's emissary back to his house and giving the American a copy of the documents. 

Within 24 hours, the dossier was in Washington, though the contents of the file couldn't be verified without an investigation. 

McCain, the Guardian said, was worried that his actions might be interpreted as revenge for some of the controversial comments Trump made about him – such as knocking the fact that the longtime senator had been a prisoner of war. 

However, McCain decided to hand over the documents to FBI Director James Comey on December 9.  

 'Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the Director of the FBI,' McCain said Wednesday in a statement about that matter.'

McCain said in a statement: 'That has been the extent of my contact with the FBI or any other government agency regarding this issue'

Inside the shadowy world of Chris Whatsit: How the brilliant Cambridge spy behind the Trump 'dirty dossier' was the first to reveal Litvinenko was poisoned by Putin's thugs - and how his wife's high heels were stolen by Kremlin spooks

Mr Steele was dubbed ‘Chris Whatsit’ by his late wife Laura (pictured) on their first date because she could not remember his name – but he revelled in being a man of mystery

The strange and fascinating world of the British spy known as ‘Chris Whatsit’ was unravelling yesterday.

Christopher Steele was once MI6’s top spy on Russian affairs and lived in the shadows until being unmasked as the alleged author of the ‘dirty dossier’ on Donald Trump.

He was dubbed ‘Chris Whatsit’ by his late wife on their first date because she could not remember his name – but he revelled in being a man of mystery.

Now the 52-year-old is hoping to return to anonymity after fleeing his £1.5million home in Surrey, telling his neighbour to look after his three cats.

Mr Steele’s Cold War-style vanishing act reflects a career sparring with the KGB and its successor, the FSB.

He joined MI6 after graduating from Cambridge University where he was described as a ‘confirmed socialist’. As a young intelligence officer in Moscow, he was frequently harassed by the KGB – once complaining that they had stolen his wife Laura’s high-heeled shoes from their flat.

The couple faced down Russian tanks after the fall of the Soviet Union and ‘highly capable’ Mr Steele went on to become head of MI6’s Russia desk – meaning he was one of the Secret Intelligence Service’s most senior spies. It was no wonder he was considered hot property when he quit MI6 in 2009 to set up his own spies-for-hire firm, Orbis Business Intelligence. 

Co-founded with another former MI6 officer, Christopher Burrows, it has earned £1million over the past two years and was instrumental in exposing corruption at world football body Fifa.

But it was Mr Steele’s gold-plated contacts in Moscow that led wealthy opponents of Mr Trump to the black door of Orbis’s discreet Belgravia office. They commissioned him to research Mr Trump’s dealings in Russia. The sensational results include claims that the Kremlin keeps a blackmail file on the president-elect which is said to contain a video of Mr Trump with Moscow prostitutes who are engaging in a ‘sexually perverted’ act.

Yesterday a friend of Mr Steele described him as an experienced professional and not the sort to ‘simply pass on gossip’.

Mr Steele was born in 1964 in Aden – his father was in the military – and grew up in Surrey before attending Girton College, Cambridge, and becoming president of the Cambridge Union debating society in 1986 – the same year in which Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was president of the Oxford Union. Contemporaries recall an ‘avowedly Left-wing student with CND credentials’, while a book on the Union’s history says he was a ‘confirmed socialist’.

Mr Steele was pictured in his Cambridge university days alongside DJ Paul Gambuccini and TV presenter Chris Searle, who had been invited to a debate. 

Security conscious: More cameras are seen around Mr Steele's home. Neighbours say he left the property on Wednesday

University friend Lance Forman, 54, who was also in the photo, told the Daily Mirror: ‘Chris was pretty amiable. But I remember he did try to stitch me up in a student political battle 30 years ago. Student politics could be vicious at that time but that’s water under the bridge now.’

In 1988, he met Laura on a double-date with his friend Neil, who became best man at their wedding in Berkshire two years later where Mr Steele ‘danced like a Cossack’.

Recalling the date, Neil said: ‘Laura’s diary of that day read “Lunch 12.30 Sue, Neil and Chris Whatsit”.

‘I failed absolutely, but Chris Whatsit was a fast mover – by Christmas he had proposed to Laura and in July 1990 they married.’ Mr Steele was posted to Moscow months after the wedding. He and his wife lived in an apartment with a pet cat and she took a job with British Airways.

It was a momentous period in the aftermath of perestroika and the run-up to the collapse of the Soviet Union the following year, when Boris Yeltsin became the first president of the Russian Federation.

Neil said: ‘The work was hard, the times were tough and there was constant harassment from the KGB. On one occasion, they even stole Laura’s favourite shoes – from their flat – just before an official dinner. On the day Yeltsin stood on the tank to proclaim change, I rang Laura up. Characteristically, she told me that Chris was fine because he’d been sent on the streets to find out what was going on. 

The 'dirty dossier' includes claims the Kremlin keeps a blackmail file on Mr Trump which is said to contain a video of the President-elect with Moscow prostitutes who are engaging in a ‘sexually perverted’ act

FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigned in 2015 after revelations about corruption in the soccer governing body, uncovered by Mr Steele's British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence

‘What about you,’ I asked? “Fine,” she said, and hesitated slightly before saying she was a little concerned about the tank 500 yards away with its large gun pointing at their block of flats!’ Though he was spying on the Russians, 26-year-old Mr Steele worked under diplomatic cover as Second Secretary (Chancery), working closely with Sir Tim Barrow – now our new ambassador to the EU – in the cramped old British Embassy across the Moskva River from the Kremlin.

After spending three years in the Russian capital, Mr Steele returned to the UK in 1993. The Steeles moved to South Norwood, South-East London, and had two sons, Matthew and Henry, before the couple were posted to Paris in 1998, where Mr Steele took the title First Secretary (Financial). Their daughter Georgina was born in France two years later.

Their friend Neil recalled: ‘They lived with the boys for a while in [the pop singer] Annie Lennox’s apartment on Rue Bonaparte before decamping to the beautiful village of Bougival up the Seine.’

While they were living in France, Laura began suffering bouts of illness, and the couple moved back to England in 2002, settling in Surrey. Around this time, Mr Steele’s work took him to Afghanistan, following the ousting of the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks on New York.

Sources said he was in an MI6 team at Bagram Airbase briefing Special Forces on ‘kill or capture’ missions for high-value Taliban targets. But Mr Steele’s interest and expertise in Russia did not diminish as he rose up the ranks.

He was a friend and contemporary of Alex Younger – now head of MI6. He moved back to London where he became head of MI6’s Russia desk. When Alexander Litvinenko was assassinated in 2006, the then head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, turned to Mr Steele, who concluded that Mr Litvinenko had been poisoned in a Kremlin-sponsored ‘hit’.

But at home, events took a tragic turn. Beset with health problems, Laura died of cirrhosis of the liver in September 2009, aged just 43, at Frimley Park Hospital. At a memorial service, Mr Steele described his late wife as ‘a liberal in every sense of the word and always on the progressive side of the argument’.

He added: ‘She had a dry sense of humour – often at my expense.’

Mourners were told by one friend: ‘The Chris and Laura romance was a great love story that led to over 19 years of marriage and three beautiful children.’

In any event, Mr Steele had decided to quit MI6 shortly before her death, and set up Orbis Business Intelligence with Mr Burrows. Company accounts signed off last month show it made £401,000 profit in 2015 and £621,000 profit in 2016.

The business thrived after Mr Steele fed the FBI with information on corruption at Fifa. He had been commissioned by the Football Association. US officials even met Mr Steele at his Belgravia office shortly before football officials were arrested over ‘rampant and systemic’ corruption and long-time president Sepp Blatter resigned.

It was the Fifa work which is said to have led to the lucrative deal to dig for dirt on Mr Trump’s dealings with Russia. Mr Steele was an ideal choice. During his years in Moscow, he had established personal contacts with KGB, then FSB, operatives, some of whom went into the private sector in Russia’s equivalent of companies such as Orbis.

One former Foreign Office official, who has known him for 25 years and considers him a friend, said: ‘The idea his work is fake or a cowboy operation is false, completely untrue. Chris is a very straight guy. He could not have survived in the job if he had been prone to flights of fancy.’

Someone else who once worked with him said: ‘He is rather an oddball. Hard to get to know and somewhat introverted. Certainly he did not present the image of the gregarious or flamboyant spy.’

Nonetheless, Mr Steele is not shy either. Dressed in a dinner jacket, he was seen laughing with old friends at a bicentenary debate at the Cambridge Union in 2015, while listening to speakers including former Tory leader Michael Howard.

At a centenary party for MI6, he was on a team of ex-spies who played ‘University Challenge – Intelligence officers v Intelligence historians’ hosted by Jeremy Paxman.

Steele reportedly bought his Surrey home with his second wife Katherine in July 2013, but he remains close to the family of his late wife.

Her father David Hunt, 79, said yesterday: ‘We last spoke to him two weeks ago at our Christmas get-together, he was with us just after Christmas. He was fine. We’ve just heard the news this morning and we are just a little concerned about it.’

Mr Steele’s neighbour Mike Hopper said he had left on Wednesday, asking him to feed the family’s three cats while he was away.

He could be in an MI6 safe house, as senior British security sources have said emergency measures are in place to protect him.