Neil Heywood did not work for UK government, Hague insists Reports have alleged that Mr Heywood, 41, was an "agent of influence" who passed information to MI6 but was not on its payroll. Such agents are widely used by government intelligence agencies and can be the hardest to detect. His relationship with Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai, a powerful and wealthy political couple, would have been of interest to anyone in the Government. According to the Chinese authorities, that association cost Mr Heywood his life. It named Mrs Gu as a suspect in his murder and stripped Mr Bo of all his party positions as Mr Heyood's death sparked China's biggest political scandal for decades. A close childhood friend earlier told The Daily Telegraph of private suspicions that Mr Heywood was a spy, while the businessman's appearance, always immaculately dressed and often in cream linen, did nothing to dispel such notions. Friends and associates said the Old Harrovian cultivated an image redolent of Graham Greene novels or James Bond films, driving a Jaguar with the numbers 007 included on the number plate and a Union Jack bumper sticker. He also prepared periodic reports for Hakluyt, a corporate intelligence firm that was founded by former MI6 officers and which prides itself on discretion. The company said he had not been working for the company at the time of his death. The cause of death was initially given as heart attack or alternatively over-consumption of alcohol. His body was cremated with his family's approval on Nov 18. In his letter, Mr Hague insisted that the Foreign Office had acted swiftly once it was told by the Americans that Wang Lijun, the police chief in Chongqing, had implicated Mrs Gu in the Briton's death. "We acted to seek an investigation as soon as we judged that concerns about the circumstances of Mr Heywood's death justified it and we are pleased that the Chinese are now investigating," Mr Hague said. Mr Heywood had known Mr Bo and his wife for about ten years, and helped their son Bo Guagua, whom he had taught English, win a place at Harrow before studying at Oxford.