The Times reported that senior Liberal Democrats are in talks with several now-former Conservative MPs expelled from the party ranks by Prime Minister Boris Johnson who backed emergency legislation to block a no-deal Brexit, with an eye to potentially forming a ‘non-aggression’ pact in an ensuing General Election.
Downing Street has made clear there is “no way back” for the rebels, and six of the 21 expelled have announced their intention to stand down at the next election. Several have indicated a desire to stand as independents however, while others have mooted the idea of forming a new informal political grouping, under the label ‘Independent’ or ‘Liberal’ Conservatives.
Whether such a faction comes to pass, it’s been reported former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is helping to broker a deal between Rory Stewart, an expelled Conservative, and the party’s new leader Jo Swinson, under which Stewart – whose constituency neighbours Swinson’s - would stand as an independent MP at the next general election but vote in line with the Liberal Democrats on certain votes in exchange for the party not fielding a candidate against him. The Green Party is also said to be willing to stand aside in Stewart’s Penrith seat.
At least three other expelled Conservatives, including former universities minister Sam Gyimah, former business minister Margot James and former attorney-general Dominic Grieve, have also reportedly had talks with the party about a loose remain alliance.
Still, should Stewart enter into an informal agreement with the Liberal Democrats, it won’t be the first time a former MI6 operative has been under the party’s whip. The specifics of his career with the foreign intelligence service aren’t entirely clear, Craig Murray, UK ambassador to Uzbekistan 2002 - 2004, states he was an MI6 officer as late as 2006. Stewart has strenuously denied the suggestion on several occasions, although he conceded in an interview with the New Yorker that his career progression and father's professional history could "give the appearance" he worked for agency, and acknowledged he couldn't admit to being a spy even if he had been.
If true, he may well have been familiar with Paddy Ashdown, an MI6 operative who later became Liberal Democrat leader. Swinson’s rival for the party leadership Ed Davey, who was Ashdown’s economic advisor, claimed on the campaign trail he was approached by MI6 but turned the offer down.
Moreover, in November 2002 Harold Elletson defected to the party. He’d served as Conservative MP for Blackpool North 1992 - 1997, but claimed the Lib Dems offered him a better chance to uphold “the values of progressive conservatism” - he was like Ashdown a veteran MI6 operative, having worked extensively for the agency in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, using his work as a trade consultant as cover.
His relationship with the organisation didn't end after his election either, despite a long-standing convention in British politics that intelligence services not use MPs as agents — then-Prime Minister John Major waived the rule to allow him to continue his intelligence work while in parliament, which included visits to the now-former Yugoslavia during the Balkans war. As an MP, he was vociferously opposed to the Bosnian War - conversely, Ashdown was among the most ardent pro-intervention voices in Parliament.
It’s unclear when Elletson left the Liberal Democrats, but in 2015 he co-founded the Northern Party to campaign for better representation for Northern England. In the 2015 general election he contested the constituency of Lancaster and Fleetwood, coming last with 0.4 percent of the vote. He’s since become involved with Integrity Initiative, the controversial UK government military intelligence front, acting as the organisation’s key point-man in Germany.
