From Post 483 by Outlaw09 in part:
Yes Mr Steele is a British national, who served in MI6 / SIS, an intelligence agency that like the other British agencies has exceptionally close links to it's American "cousins" (although GCHQ is reportedly even closer to the NSA it's "cousin"). Could his loyalties and networking in the private sector serve more than one paymaster and other "interested parties"? Yes, quite clearly.
Secondly until July 2015 the FT newspaper and other electronic options were owned by the UK-based Pearson Group, but it was then sold to Nikkei, a Japanese media company. A compnay that has a mixed reputation according to this, almost funny now, Russian author:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...as-a-new-owner
Pearson Group also sold its 50% share in The Economist to the Agnelli family, from Italy where their interests include Fiat. The Pearson Group has largely UK-based corporate owners.
It is a moot point if in 2017 the FT reflects a distinct British flavour, let alone reports in the UK's national interest. More likely the international corporate financiers IMHO.
From Post 485 by Outlaow09 cited in part:
That is quite simply "spin" and may originate from within the agencies or Whitehall-Westminster. There is IMHO the widely held belief that any spy (HUMINT source), would
not, except when jointly run, reveal the true identity of a spy anywhere. The information reports gained, well that is quite different and we know that sometimes the "jigsaw" can be assembled to identify a spy.