US spied on UK Foreign Office to gather crucial information about ministers: Wikileaks

WASHINGTON - The United States had ordered its diplomats to spy and gather information about the weaknesses of British Foreign Office ministers, and the strains in their professional relationships, according to latest revelations of Wikileaks.

The new revelations throw a new light on the “special relationship” between Britain and America, which has come under strain amid apparent indifference from the Obama administration towards Britain, The Telegraph reports.

According to the leaked cables, within weeks of the appointment of Ivan Lewis as a junior foreign minister in June 2009, US officials had briefed the office of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, about rumours that he was depressed and had a reputation as a bully.

“Contacts who know him well report ‘he’s very up one minute, very down the next’ and at least one FCO colleague has described Lewis as a ‘bully’,” the paper quoted the cables, as saying.

Clinton’s office, however, was keen for more information about “how Lewis works with Foreign Secretary Miliband and the FCO staff”. In reply, the US embassy in London had provided more gossip on Lewis in just over two months.

The cable added that Lewis “had been forced to apologize in 2007 to a female in his office who accused him of sexual harassment”, adding that Downing Street had apparently leaked the incident in 2008 to discredit Lewis after he had criticised Gordon Brown following a by-election defeat. (ANI)