Alex Gordon was a police agent recruited by Herbert Booth, of P.M.S.2.
(related to MI5) in 1916 to infiltrate the labour and anti-war movement which was proving more effective after the introduction of conscription in the United Kingdom.
[1][better source needed] Gordon's first assignment was the infiltration of the Industrial Workers of the World.
[1][better source needed] Months after a "most repellent incident" 'Gordon' being "withheld from the witness-box in the Wheeldon trial after being used as an instrument for getting a conviction", The Nation (edited by Henry William Massingham) demanded: "who set this man to work?
"[2] In the House of Commons, William Anderson MP continued asking questions about 'Gordon''s work, finishing with: "whether an assurance will be given that 'Alex Gordon' will not in future be employed in any capacity by the government".