The former British spy behind the discredited Donald Trump dossier is accused of twisting the truth in similar fashion, three decades ago, by smearing a political rival.

Steele, described by university contemporaries as ruthlessly ambitious, allegedly badmouthed former Cambridge Union Vice President Lance Forman, wrongly accusing him of supporting apartheid.

Now, 32 years later, according to Mr Forman, the former MI6 agent has behaved equally badly, tarnishing the President with lurid claims, linking him to Russian prostitutes.

'When I heard about the Trump dossier, I thought: 'He hasn't changed at all, has he?',' Mr Forman told MailOnline. 'He took a fact and blew it up into a story which wasn't true.'

Political ambition: Former MI6 spy Chris Steele invited a number of high-profile British and US politicians to pose for this picture in 1986 when he was Cambridge Union President. Left to right are Conservative MP Ray Whitney, Professor Colin Renfrew, US Ambassador Peter Jay, Steele, Senator Larry Pressler, MPs Bryan Gould and former Home Secretary Jack Straw

Dodgy dossier: Steele, pictured with a woman believed to be his second wife Katharine, was described as ruthlessly ambitious by his Cambridge University contemporaries. One time political rival Lance Forman said Steele wrongly claimed that he supported apartheid for helping to organise the visit of the South African Ambassador to the university in the 1980s

High-profile guests: Steele showed that he was a social climber in 1986 when he invited Jack Straw, left, and Senator Larry Pressler, right, to his presidential debate at Cambridge

Another contemporary of the former spy, who read social and political sciences at Girton College, agreed about the lengths to which he was willing to go to further his career.

'When you took part in politics at the Cambridge Union, it was very spiteful and full of people spreading rumours,' he said. 'Steele fitted right in. He was very ambitious, ruthless and frankly not a very nice guy.'

Even Steele's presidential photograph, taken the following year, when he was in his final year at university, shows the extraordinary ambition of the man branded a 'failed spy' by Trump, after he authored the dodgy dossier.

The picture, which was snapped in June 1986 – when Steele was in his final year at Cambridge and President of the oldest debating society in the world –shows the height of his political aspirations.

It is in complete contrast to Mr Forman's 1985 presidential photograph: while he invited DJ Paul Gambaccini and BBC That's Life star Chris Serle to his annual debate, Steele invited the great and good of UK and US politics.

Seated between former US Ambassador Peter Jay and Senator Larry Pressler, Steele, then 21, looks completely at ease as he stares straight into the camera lens, despite being flanked by men twice his age and experience.

On his right are renowned archaeologist Professor Colin Renfrew, 48, and Conservative MP Ray Whitney, then Parliamentary Under Secretary for the DHSS. On his left are MPs Bryan Gould and Jack Straw, who went onto become leading lights in successive Labour governments.

University days: Steele who studied at Cambridge, is circled here in 1985 with, among others, DJ Paul Gambaccini and That's Life star Chris Serle, on either side of Lance Forman, centre front row. At university Steele read political sciences at Girton College

One fellow Cambridge graduate, who knew him well in his days at the Union, told MailOnline: 'This photograph shows, even as a 21-year-old, his intense interest in both British and American politics.'

Steele arrived at Cambridge in the Michaelmas term 1983 and gradually became involved in the Union Society. In little more than a year, he started to show his true colours.

President Laura Chapman controversially invited the South African Ambassador to her Presidential debate at Michaelmas 1984 and asked Mr Forman, then Vice President, to organise the logistics.

But during the following Lent term, in 1985, when Mr Forman was standing as President, Steele, 'a confirmed socialist', accused him of supporting the South African regime and smeared him in the local newspapers.

'He took a fact – that I went to South Africa House and blew it up into a story which wasn't true,' added Mr Forman, who was nonetheless elected President.

Nemesis: Steele is said to have compiled a discredited dossier on President Donald Trump, pictured, linking him to Russian prostitutes during a visit to Moscow in 2013. He is said to have compiled the document for Trump's rivals during the presidential election

Angry tweet: President Trump called the allegations against him 'phoney' and said they had been put together by his political opponents and a 'failed spy afraid of being sued'.

In Easter 1986 Steele himself was finally elected President and in charge of the guest list. His invitation to the late Sir Raymond Whitney, gives a fascinating insight into his future career.

Then a 55-year-old Conservative minister in the Department of Health and Social Security, Whitney had a background in diplomacy. A former First Secretary at the British Embassy in Peking – he was lucky to escape with his life after an attack by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution - he had headed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Overseas Information Department, which handled counterpropaganda.

Neither Bryan Gould, then 47, nor Jack Straw, then 39, had reached the height of their political careers when they attended the presidential debate. Gould was serving his second term as a Labour MP and would later serve in Neil Kinnock's Shadow Cabinet.

Straw was MP for Blackburn and would go on to become Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary serving under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

But former Ambassador Jay and Senator Pressler were more high-profile, showing that, even in his days at Cambridge, Steele had US connections. At that time Jay, 49, a former economics editor at The Times had returned to Britain after serving his time as Ambassador.

Pressler, 44, was the serving Senator for South Dakota, who appears to have similar political leanings to Steele - last year he switched political allegiances to endorse Democrat Hillary Clinton, rather than Trump.

Office: Former diplomat Steele set up Orbis Business Intelligence in 2009 with Chris Burrows from this London office, pictured. The business has reportedly earned multi-million-pound contracts due to Steele's contacts in Russia during a distinguished diplomatic career

Heartache: Steele, left, was a widower after his first wife Laura, right, mother of his three children, died from cirrhosis of the liver. He married second wife Katharine, a divorced career diplomat in 2012

But MailOnline has learnt that his second wife is well versed in diplomacy – she has spent her career as a diplomat, working at the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The couple married in September 2012 at St Andrew's Church, Farnham. By then Steele was a widower – his first wife Laura, mother of his three children, died from cirrhosis of the liver – and was running his company Orbis Business Intelligence.

Katherine, 51, the daughter of an aerospace engineer and former Second Secretary in New Delhi, was divorced from her first husband with a 14-year-old daughter.