PM’s new Brexit ambassador Sir Tim Barrow linked to Donald Trump ‘dirty Kremlin dossier’ amid claims ‘he handed on report’
BRITAIN’S new Brexit ambassador to the EU has been sucked into the Donald Trump dirty dossier affair.
Sir Tim Barrow served as a diplomat in Moscow with ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele — alleged author of a report linking the US President-elect to Russian hookers, who he allegedly let urinate in front of him.
Suspicion spread in Moscow and London and on websites worldwide yesterday that an ex-UK envoy to Russia was involved in passing the bombshell papers to Republican senator John McCain — a sworn enemy of 70-year-old Mr Trump.
Foreign Office officials insisted Sir Tim, 52 — their London-based Political Director since leaving his Moscow post — had “no knowledge whatsoever” of the secret file.
Meanwhile PM Theresa May was facing increasing pressure to assure Mr Trump directly that British intelligence had nothing to do with the hotel hooker smear campaign.
In a fresh twist, it emerged McCain’s meeting may have been at the Halifax Security Forum in Canada last November.
He added: “The issue of Donald Trump and Russia was very much in the news and it was natural to talk about it.
“We also spoke about how Mr Trump may find himself in a position where there could be an attempt to blackmail him and claims there were audio and video tapes in existence.”
The Sun has learned attendees at the security conference included Sir Andrew Wood, the UK’s former ambassador to Russia, and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.
It raises the possibility that Sir Andrew, 77, could also have been the link man for McCain.
Yet rumours over Sir Tim continued as he worked with Steele in the Nineties in one of the most challenging diplomatic outposts.
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Trouble-shooter Sir Tim was appointed EU ambassador nine days ago, succeeding Sir Ivan Rogers.
The only ex-ambassador to Moscow still in the civil service, he has assured Foreign Office chiefs he had “nothing to do with” the memos.
Steele, 52, went into hiding after angry Mr Trump called the dossier fabricated “fake news.”
Sir Andrew claimed last month that Trump had a “case to answer” over alleged Russian hacking of the US election.
A man at his home declined to comment last night.
LE PEN AT TRUMP TOWER
FRANCE’S far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was seen in Trump Tower yesterday.
The controversial National Front leader was snapped drinking coffee in a cafe inside the building in New York.
But she refused to say whether she was meeting the President-elect.
Ms Le Pen, 48, was believed to be with her partner Louis Aliot, who is the National Front’s vice-president.
Polls suggest Le Pen is one of the top two candidates for the first round of voting in the French elections in April.
She has called Mr Trump’s election an additional stone in the building of a new world.
CLASH ON PUTIN
DONALD Trump was last night on a collision course over Russia with two of his key aides — after they attacked Vladimir Putin.
New defence secretary Gen James Mattis (pictured) and Mike Pompeo, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, both asserted that Russia posed a threat to the West.
The President-elect has said he hopes for warmer relations with Putin.
But “Mad Dog” Mattis told his Senate confirmation hearing: “I think Nato is under the the biggest attack since World War Two and that’s from Russia.”
Congressman Pompeo called Russian attempts to influence last year’s US presidential election an “aggressive action”.