The former head of MI6 claimed the intelligence services will be investigating Russia, Tommy Robinson and possibly even Nigel Farage in their probe into how the far-right riots started.
The UK was hit by a wave of far-right extremism and violence earlier this month, triggered by social media disinformation around the suspect in the Southport stabbings, where three young girls were killed.
Various accounts falsely claimed the person behind the horrific incident was an asylum seeker and on the MI6 watchlist – allegations which then acted as a catalyst for the anti-immigration riots.
Former MI6 spy, Christopher Steele, previously put together a dossier on Donald Trump’s relations with Russia.
He worked for MI6 between 1987 and 2009, and believes intelligence services will now be looking at who evoked the riots.
He told Times Radio on Sunday he believes Russia was involved, while also noting that English Defence League (EDL) founder Robinson, and Reform Party leader, MP Farage, could also be under the spotlight.
Steele said: “I think the Security Service will be looking very carefully at the instigators of these activities, including people like Tommy Robinson, even conceivably Nigel Farage, who incidentally said that we were being misinformed by the government about Southport.”
Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been encouraging the riots online while on holiday in Cyprus.
Steele continued: “The Security Services require warrants, obviously, to do some of that.
“But I think essentially, looking at communications, looking at travel, looking at financial transfers is the heart of this problem.
“And if we’re going to get to the bottom of it, certainly the government should be doing those things in terms of the instigators. Now, whether Nigel Farage in the end is defined as an instigator of this, I don’t know.”
He added: “They’ll be looking at things like their travel movements, who they’ve been in touch with, monetary transfers, and so on, because that will reveal or not, as the case may be a pattern of behaviour, which can lead to some conclusions about the degree to which Russia has been interfering in this situation.”
Steele explained that he thinks think it’s “clear” there is some Russian involvement, but added: “The degree to which that’s happened and the effectiveness I think is still out for question.
“I mean, when you look at the original disinformation that surrounded the Southport killings, that does seem to have come from a Russian linked website.
“It’s in very much Russia’s interest to destabilise countries like Britain and the United States.”