MI5 sacking proves ‘sting’, says Mosley

News that an MI5 officer has been forced out of his job after it was discovered that his wife, a prostitute, was behind the 'sting' on Max Mosley, has delighted the motor-racing boss. Since the story broke in the News of the World in March, Mosley has never denied he enjoyed a sado-masochistic orgy with five call-girls (a personal matter, he says). But he has repeatedly claimed that he had been set up by "a group specialising in such things".

The claim that the sacked agent's wife was Madame Abi, the prostitute who organised Mosley's sexual cavort, and another claim in the Sunday Telegraph that it was she who informed the News of the World the orgy was to take place, is seen by Mosley as a chance to save his job. "This is an astonishing piece of information, which I will pass on to my legal advisers," he said yesterday.

Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, has always believed he was the victim of a conspiracy and has hinted at the involvement of the security services. Until now, few have given that allegation any credence.

In a recent letter to Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), Moseley wrote: "From information provided to me by an impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services, I understand that over the last two weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specialising in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown."

However, MI5 deny any involvement in the sting. "Any suggestion that the service was involved in setting up Mosley is total nonsense," said a senior Whitehall official.

Whether any of this will have any bearing on the vote of no confidence Mosley faces at an extraordinary meeting of the FIA general assembly in Paris on June 3, remains to be seen. Insiders say it is unlikely to impress QC Anthony Scrivener, who, as The First Post reported recently, has been commissioned to report on the News of the World story before the meeting, with particular focus on the claims that the Mosley orgy was Nazi-themed.