Claims that Rory Stewart worked for MI6 should not be used as “political capital” by rivals in the Tory leadership race, a senior MP warned today.
Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, made the remark after a Whitehall security source alleged to The Daily Telegraph that Mr Stewart was recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service after he left Oxford.
Before becoming an MP in 2010, the International Development Secretary was a diplomat in Indonesia and Montenegro, and a deputy governor of two Iraqi provinces after the 2003 war.
He also walked for 21 months across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
Mr Stewart previously denied he was a spy. But, asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today if ex-spies could legally say whether they worked for MI6, he said no. Mr Tugendhat tweeted: “If he did, he risked everything in the shadows defending our nation.
Whoever these Whitehall sources are need to seriously rethink their ethics. Trying to use @RoryStewartUK as political capital may risk others.”
Global News 
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