One of Sir Keir Starmer‘s most powerful advisers was last night accused of running secret diplomatic back channels to ‘terrorists’ using his own taxpayer-funded team of ‘outsourced spies and spooks’.
Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser, founded the shadowy organisation after he left Tony Blair‘s Downing Street, where he was chief of staff when the infamous ‘dodgy dossier’ helped to propel Britain into war with Iraq.
The outfit, Inter Mediate, receives funding from the Foreign Office for making contact with ‘non-state armed groups’, and is understood to have brokered the UK’s deal with Syria which led to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations earlier this month.
Mr Powell, 68, who stood down as the charity’s £200,000-a-year chief executive when he returned to No 10 in November, also brokered the hugely controversial deal to surrender UK sovereignty over the strategically important Chagos Islands to Mauritius earlier this year.
The move comes amid claims that the Blairites, led by Mr Powell and Liz Lloyd – his deputy in Tony Blair’s administration and now Sir Keir’s director of policy delivery – are trying to mount a ‘power grab’ within Starmer’s administration.
Diplomatic sources say that Inter Mediate played a central role in re-establishing relations with the Syrian government, which is led by former Islamists with links to Al Qaeda.Â
After the deal was brokered earlier this month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy flew to meet President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, where Inter Mediate is said to operate an office inside the presidential palace.
The interim government has become embroiled in deadly clashes with Druze militias in the southern part of the country, prompting Israel to mount retaliatory raids on Damascus.
Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser, was last night accused of running secret diplomatic back channels to ‘terrorists’ using his own taxpayer-funded team of ‘outsourced spies and spooks’
Last night, a senior Tory called for a Parliamentary investigation into why Mr Powell has been given ‘special adviser’ status, rather than being a direct ministerial appointment.Â
That means he does not have to answer to Parliament, despite his role in dealing directly with foreign governments and negotiating the handover of the Chagos.
Alex Burghart, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: ‘Not being able to question the national security adviser on his role in the Chagos surrender is outrageous enough.
‘But it now turns out that he is using his private outfit to run back channels to terrorist groups. Parliament must surely be able to question him about this. If the Government has nothing to hide, it wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep Mr Powell away from the cold light of scrutiny.
‘Labour must come clean and explain themselves at once.’
Inter Mediate displays Mr Powell prominently on its website, highlighting his role as ‘a key architect of the 1999 Good Friday Agreement’ in Northern Ireland.
It says that he founded the organisation in order ‘to share lessons from the Northern Ireland peace talks and help other leaders navigating similar dilemmas’.Â
The website also says Mr Powell used his experience to ‘play a central role in further successful peace accords’, including the end of the Basque conflict in Spain, serving as a ‘peace adviser’ to President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and working alongside Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi to end the country’s civil war.
Less welcome headlines came over Mr Powell’s role in the infamous 2002 dossier into Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction, when it was revealed that he asked a security chief to make changes to a draft version because it posed ‘a bit of a problem’ for Tony Blair’s Downing Street.
The most recent accounts for Inter Mediate, which was founded by Mr Powell in 2011, highlight a ‘greater commitment from the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] through a new partnership agreement with the office of conflict, stabilisation and mediation’.Â
He is one of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s most powerful advisers
Alex Burghart, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said: ‘Not being able to question the national security adviser on his role in the Chagos surrender is outrageous enough
Government spending records show that Inter Mediate is bankrolled by the UK Government to provide back channels to ‘non-state armed groups’ due to its ‘high-level access to political elites’.
The accounts, published in January, put its total income for the year to March 2024 at £2.96 million with the highest paid staff member – presumed to be Mr Powell – earning between £190,000 and £200,000.Â
A Whitehall source said: ‘These are essentially outsourced spies and spooks undertaking ‘back channel’ discussions with political leaders and armed groups to reach negotiated settlements.’
In a letter to Simon Hoare, chairman of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, Mr Burghart says Mr Powell should respond to the call to give evidence to Parliament’s joint committee on the national security strategy (JCNSS), given that ‘every previous national security adviser has appeared before the committee since the position was established in 2010’.
Mr Burghart writes: ‘I believe that this raises important constitutional matters that would be worthy of wider scrutiny by Parliament.
‘The first duty of Government is defence of the realm: yet the Government does not wish the Prime Minister’s principal adviser on national security to be scrutinised.’Â
A Government spokesman said: ‘The Government is committed to having a productive relationship with the JCNSS, and providing the best support and evidence to help it in its important work. In line with longstanding practice, senior civil servants and ministers with national security responsibility will provide evidence to the JCNSS.’
A Government source added that Mr Powell’s deputies would appear before the committee.
They added: ‘There is an established system in place for the declaration and management of financial interests. As has been the case under successive administrations, interests deemed relevant for publication for special advisers in No 10 and the Cabinet Office are published on an annual basis.
‘Inter Mediate is a charity which works to resolve armed conflicts around the world.
‘Jonathan severed all links with it when he rejoined Government last year.’
