Sir Ed Davey has claimed he turned down the opportunity to join MI6 before he entered Westminster.
The Liberal Democrat leader made the revelation during an appearance on the Walking the Dog podcast.
He was studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Jesus College, Oxford when the intelligence service is said to have made contact in 1988.
Sir Ed said the approach came after he had submitted an application to join the Civil Service.
“I applied for the Civil Service and they [MI6] sent me this letter out of the blue, saying there were some positions open in the Civil Service that weren’t open to competition and we’d like you to apply,” he said.
The Liberal Democrat leader said he was subject to intense scrutiny during the recruitment process.
“I went and you had to tell them the inside leg measurement of your great aunt with all these sort of background checks,” Sir Ed recalled.
He was then summoned for an interview where he was required to sign the Official Secrets Act before proceedings could continue.
“[The interviewer] said, you’ve probably guessed this is for the Secret Service and he told me what we’d do, how I’d learn to be a spy.
“You’d learn languages, all that sort of training,” Sir Ed explained.
The politician, known for his attention-grabbing campaign antics involving paddleboards and water slides, acknowledged the contrast between his character and espionage work.
“There’s a joke about ‘007 Davey’ but I don’t labour that point, I probably would be a very bad spy,” he admitted.
At the time, Sir Ed had recently begun his involvement with the Liberal Democrats and said the prospect of clandestine work held little appeal for him.
He said: “I asked if I could tell my girlfriend or my wife and he said possibly, but there’s this whole life of secrecy which wasn’t attracting me.
“I like James Bond films and all that, but I realised it wasn’t like that.”
Rather than pursuing intelligence work, Sir Ed subsequently became a financial analyst before entering Parliament.
The traditional practice of intelligence agencies approaching Oxbridge students has largely ceased.
MI5 director-general Ken McCallum said in 2021 that “no one is chosen” for spy roles any longer, with all candidates now applying through formal channels.
Sir Ed joins a distinguished list of public figures who have claimed similar approaches from British intelligence.
Former Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow has allegedly been contacted by MI6 in the past.
Oscar-winning actor Riz Ahmed has claimed British intelligence services approached him on three separate occasions.
Television chef Nigella Lawson was reportedly contacted by MI5 after graduating from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1979, though her father advised her to avoid the intelligence services.
