Sir Andrew Wood told US senator that Christopher Steele’s report ‘might be true, might be untrue’ but that author was credible

A former British ambassador to Moscow has revealed the role he played in bringing the explosive dossier about Donald Trump’s alleged links to Russia to the attention of the US intelligence agencies.

Sir Andrew Wood was consulted about the claims by Senator John McCain at a security conference in Canada shortly after the US election.

Wood said he did not have the dossier but that McCain obtained it from his own sources. It was written by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele and handed to the director of the FBI, James Comey.

“I told him I was aware of what was in the report but I had not read it myself, that it might be true, it might be untrue. I had no means of judging really,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Donald Trump dossier: intelligence sources vouch for author's credibility Read more

The dossier, published this week by BuzzFeed, alleges that acts of sexual impropriety involving Trump occurred in Moscow, and says there was collusion between the Russian government and the Republican candidate’s campaign team.

Trump has flatly denied the stories, which he described as “fake news”.

Wood said he believed Steele was a “very competent professional operator”, adding: “I do not think he would make things up. I don’t think he would necessarily always draw the correct judgment but that’s not the same thing at all.”

Former Foreign Office and intelligence officials told the Guardian on Thursday that Steele was highly respected in the intelligence community.



Steele’s dossier contains “pretty central accusations” about a presidential candidate being complicit in the hacking of his rival, and about the Russian intelligence services holding lurid sexual material on Trump, Wood said. “These seemed to me to have important implications - if true.”



The allegations were lent weight by some of Trump’s public behaviour on the campaign trail, he added. “It is a suggestion that was I think given certain colouration by the way Trump talked about the hacking exercise and by the stories about his treatment of women, and of course the KGB and FSB now make it a regular practice to do honeytrap exercises.”

The former spy went into hiding this week after his cover was blown. “Russia would certainly like to know where he got his information from - assuming his information is basically true and he hasn’t just made it up, which I don’t believe for a moment - and they’re accustomed to take action,” said Wood, describing the allegations as “dangerous knowledge”.

He dismissed the suggestion that the allegations could be fabricated by Russia as part of a Russian false-flag operation. “That would be a fairly elaborate exercise designed to get at Chris Steele, and I don’t see why that would be done.”

Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) Christopher Steele story: MI6 officers are never ex: briefing both ways - against Russia and US President pic.twitter.com/tJwLtLZs24

The Russian embassy in London claimed in a tweet that the British intelligence services played a role in the scandal, writing: “MI6 officers are never ex”. Wood brushed off this suggestion, saying: “They’re speaking [about] their experience with KGB officers, I suppose.”

The former diplomat denied that the publication of the allegations had strengthened Vladimir Putin’s position: “I think the fact that it’s been exposed or rumoured or suggested reduces that power. I think also that Mr Trump is not a man who’s regularly driven by bashfulness or shame and even if this is true, that he’s been compromised in that way, he would react pretty strongly and say so what. That’s my opinion.”

Steele has gone to ground but further details about his career continue to emerge. The BBC reported on Friday that he was hired by England’s 2018 World Cup bid to gather intelligence on Fifa, the world football organisation, and England’s rivals including Russia.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday afternoon, Theresa May, the prime minister, said it was “absolutely clear” that the Trump dossier’s author had not worked for the British government for years.