Dame Stella Rimington, first female director general of MI5, dies aged 90
MI5
, has died aged 90, her family announced.
Dubbed the 'housewife superspy' when she came into the role, she is widely credited as the model for Dame
Judi Dench
's M in the
James Bond
films.
She was born on May 13th, 1935, in South Norwood and died on Sunday night.
In a statement, her family said: 'She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath.'
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In a statement on its website, MI5 expressed its condolences to Dame Stella's family, friends and former colleagues.
Sir Ken McCallum, current director general, said she 'broke through long-standing barriers' as the service's first female head.
He said: 'Dame Stella was the first publicly avowed director general of MI5. Her leadership ushered in a new era of openness and transparency about the work MI5 does to keep this country safe, a legacy that continues to this day.
'As the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world, Dame Stella broke through long-standing barriers and was a visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership.
Stella Rimington, director general of MI5 on the day M15 held the first photocall in its 84-year history, in 1993. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA Wire
'Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with her husband, two daughters and extended family.'
As part of a policy to 'demystify' MI5's work, she began a programme of releasing files to The National Archives, the service said.
She joined MI5 full time in 1969, having been recruited as a part-time clerk typist by its office in New Delhi's British High Commission after she accompanied her husband on a diplomatic posting there four years earlier.
She became director of each of the service's operational branches before she was appointed to deputy director general in 1991 and then director general a year later.
During her tenure in the top job, between 1992 and 1996, there were threats from the IRA and Russia, while the Islamist terror threat was also emerging.
When a newspaper published a photo of her house, she and her family had to move to a covert location for their own protection.
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After leaving MI5 in 1996, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath that same year and published her autobiography, Open Secret, in 2001, kickstarting her career as a novelist.
In her time in the service, she found herself pitted against Russian espionage agents and IRA terrorists as well as, more controversially, domestic 'subversives' including the leaders of the 1984 miners' strike.
Dubbed the 'housewife superspy' when she became the first female director general of MI5 – and the first to be named publicly – she did much to bring the service out of the shadows and explain its role to the public.
While she struggled with the publicity she nevertheless appeared delighted when she was credited as the model for Judi Dench's M in the James Bond movies.
The greater openness she inaugurated went too far for some when, after leaving, in another first, she became the first former director general to publish her memoir.
In retirement she took on a number of non-executive directorships – including for Marks & Spencer, using her surveillance skills to eavesdrop on customers to pick up what they were saying about the company's products.
She also drew on her experiences to forge a successful second career as a thriller writer, with a series of novels about the fictional MI5 officer Liz Carlyle.
In 1993, MI5 published a short booklet which, for the first time, put some facts into the public domain, while she appeared alongside then home secretary Michael Howard in an official photocall to launch it.
A further step towards greater openness followed when, despite much official hand-wringing, she was given permission to deliver the prestigious BBC Dimbleby lecture on the role of the security services in a democracy.
She was made a dame in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.
Her heightened public profile led to sniping in Whitehall that 'Stella likes the limelight' – a perception only enhanced when, five years after her retirement in 1996, she chose to publish her memoir, to the fury of many of her former colleagues.
Such criticisms did not stop her speaking out in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the US 'war on terror' to warn that draconian new laws simply played into the hands of the terrorists by spreading fear and alarm.
Alongside her post-MI5 writing and business commitments she even found time to chair the judging panel for the Man Booker Prize for literature, although her comment that they were looking for 'readability' found her once again in the firing line from critics who accused her of 'dumbing down' the award.
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, she reconciled with her husband, moving in together during lockdown.
'It's a good recipe for marriage, I'd say,' she said. 'Split up, live separately, and return to it later.' – PA
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