Rory Stewart was an MI6 spy.

Rory Stewart has denied having worked for the intelligence services. He said even if he would have been a spy he was bound by secrecy.

Rory Stewart has denied having worked for the intelligence services. He said even if he would have been a spy he was bound by secrecy.On June 17, 2019, The Daily Telegraph newspaper ran a front-page story insinuating that British diplomat, author, writer, and politician Rory Stewart worked as a spy. The newspaper report was published when Stewart was standing as a candidate for the Conservative Party leader in the 2019 leadership contest.

Despite the Official Secrets Act protecting the operations of Britain’s security services, the Telegraph published claims from an unnamed ‘Whitehall source’ that Stewart was recruited as a ‘007-style’ agent whilst studying at Oxford University. In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Stewart denied having worked for MI6. However, he said he would be bound by secrecy if he had been a spy and pointed out that newspapers would be revealing official secrets by outing former spies. A report published by the Guardian quotes an unnamed source who worked with Stewart as saying that it was well known he had worked for the intelligence services.

He stated that the law wouldn’t allow newspapers to reveal the identity of intelligence officers. He had reportedly confirmed to the New Yorker magazine during an interview held in 2010 that his father Brian Stewart was involved in British overseas intelligence for 20 years, and had reached a high rank, but denied that he was involved. He also told the interviewer Ian Parker that his career path might ‘give the appearance’ that he worked for MI6.