An injunction has been placed on Mr Tomlinson, who was born in New Zealand, to prevent him disclosing further details about MI6 activities.

But he has confirmed that he talked to a book publisher despite the ruling.

Speaking on New Zealand television, he said that although he held a passport in that country and would normally have free entry to Australia, the government there had said he needed a visa because he has served time in a British jail.

In 1997, he had been sentenced to a year's imprisonment for passing secret information to an Australian publisher but was released earlier this year on probation, after serving six months.

'Better than Spycatcher'

He also confirmed he had spoken with Reeds publishing company, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

He said he intends to write a book on MI6 which would be a "much better read than Spycatcher". The UK Government fought to ban this book, which was written by former MI5 agent Peter Wright.

Mr Tomlinson said he fully expected his phone would to be tapped if he settled in New Zealand, even though he had gone there to escape such "intrusion" into his private life.

"I thought I was coming to a country where that sort of thing was only done in circumstances where there was a definite justification, where the New Zealand state was directly affected," he said.

"I'm no threat at all to New Zealand and I'm deeply disappointed that that should be almost certainly going to happen to me if I stay here."

'Brutal arrest'

When he arrived in Auckland on Wednesday, Mr Tomlinson was served with a High Court injunction preventing him from talking with the media.

He had been arrested along with MI5 agent David Shayler in Paris last Friday at the request of the UK Government for offences against the Official Secrets Act.

Speaking of the arrest in a Paris hotel room, Mr Tomlinson said: "The door just flew open and two sort of French front-row forwards came bursting into my room and rugby-tackled me down to the ground followed immediately by three other police officers pointing revolvers at me."

"It was an extremely brutal arrest and even when I was handcuffed and on the ground I was still being kicked and punched."

Mr Tomlinson was later released on grounds of insufficient evidence.

The UK Foreign Office said it did not want to stifle criticism of the security services but said it had sought the court order because Tomlinson's threatened disclosures could have put lives at risk.