US intelligence kept a file “of personal nature” on Tony Blair while he was Prime Minister, in violation of an agreement between Britain and the US not to spy on each other’s leaders.

The existence of the secret Blair file was disclosed by a former communications intercept operator, who also gave details of how he eavesdropped on the Iraqi President’s romantic phone calls to his future wife.

David Mufee Faulk told ABC News that he had seen a written file containing details of Mr Blair’s private life while working at a secret National Security Agency facility. Mr Faulk worked at Fort Gordon, Georgia, from 2003 -2007 where his top secret clearance gave him access to an intelligence data base called “Anchory.”

It was there, in 2006, that he claims he saw the file on the then British Prime Minister, which included personal information. Mr Faulk did not give any details on what he had gleaned from the Blair file.

Gathering information about foreign leaders is a legal and common practice of intelligence agencies around the world but under a long-standing agreement, the US and Britain have pledged “not to collect on each other,” former US intelligence officials said.

The NSA works closely with its British counterpart, the GCHQ, and shares information on a regular basis. “If it is true that we maintained a file on Blair, it would represent a huge breach of the agreement we have with the Brits,” said one former CIA official.

Mr Faulk’s revelation comes just weeks after he disclosed that US intelligence had listened in to the intimate exchanges of American journalists, aid workers and soldiers by secretly monitoring their calls.

In yesterday’s ABC interview, he recalled how, while working as an Army Arab linguist, he personally snooped on interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer’s “courting, wooing and pillow talk” to his Kurdish fiancée and fellow public official Nasrin Barwari.

American intelligence agents admitted to spying on Iraqi leaders, including the current Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, in Bob Woodward’s final book on the wartime Bush Administration, “The War Within.”

In the case of Mr al-Yawer, Mr Faulk says his “pillow talk” phone calls were to his fiancée, the then-public works minister, whom he later married. The couple are now divorced.

Mr al-Yawer, a Sunni tribal leader, was the first President of Iraq’s interim government after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and held office between 2004 and 2005. His private calls were monitored even when he was flying to Washington to meet President Bush at the White House.

Mr Faulk says the calls were intercepted by NSA operators and posted on the computer system for others to read and hear. The same allegations were made about the private communications of journalists, aid workers and soldiers before the Senate Intelligence Committee last month.

President Bush initially authorised the controversial eavesdropping programme to monitor calls from terror suspects without the inconvenience of seeking a warrant. But Mr Faulk and a colleague, Adrienne Kinne, told the committee last month that they had been ordered to intercept the calls of non-suspects as well.

Mr Faulk told ABC Nightline that people at the agency would sometimes listen to calls that contained “pillow talk” or “phone sex” from military officers or aid workers for fun. Both Mr Faulk and Ms Kinne said they questioned the legality of what they were doing to their superiors, but were told to continue the monitoring without changes.

Mr Faulk said, however, that as a result of monitoring calls, the NSA had found out where some weapons were located and the military was then able to disarm bombs before they went off.

The NSA refused to comment on the allegations, but denied anything illegal had taken place. Spokespeople for Mr Blair, Mr al-Yawer and his ex-wife also refused to comment on the allegations that their private lives had provided entertainment for bored spies.

Times Recommends

• Violent video games won’t corrupt
• Pope Benedict XVI: Alma Mater
• Chávez should know what’s good for him