Ex-MI6 man Steele hired for England World Cup bid

Christopher Steele is believed to have left his home this week

The ex-MI6 officer believed to be behind the Trump memos was hired by England's 2018 World Cup bid team.

It is understood Christopher Steele gathered information on football body Fifa and other countries bidding to host the tournament, mainly Russia. Mr Steele was hired through the London-based company he co-founded, Orbis.


The England football connection comes after Mr Steele was named author of a series of papers containing allegations about US President-elect Donald Trump.

Mr Trump has dismissed the unverified claims that Russian security officials have compromising material about him as "fake news" and "phoney stuff".

It is not yet known whether Mr Steele's intelligence on the 2018 World Cup brought about an investigation into alleged corruption within Fifa, but he did report his findings to the Eurasian crime department of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

US officials have said that because the FBI knew of Mr Steele, the Trump dossier gained "credence", according to news agency Reuters.