Dame Stella Rimington, the trailblazing first female director general of MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, died aged 90.
She was an accomplished author and also widely credited as the inspiration for Dame Judi Dench’s M, the chief of sister agency MI6, in the James Bond films.
Dame Stella passed away on Sunday night, with her family later releasing the following statement: "She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath."
Ken McCallum, MI5’s current chief, said she was “the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world” and praised her for breaking “through longstanding barriers”. She was, he added: “A visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership.”
Born Stella Whitehouse in South Norwood on 13 May 1935, Rimington was appointed deputy director general in 1991 and then director general a year later. She held the post from 1992 to 1996.
She became the first head of MI5 to be publicly identified when appointed and used her time as director general to bring the service out of the shadows.
After leaving MI5 in 1996, Rimington was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II.
In her first interview after leaving the agency, with the Guardian, Rimington said she was drawn to the world of espionage in spite of “all of these tweedy guys with pipes”.
“I still thought the essence of the cold war and spies and stuff was fun. You know, going around listening to people’s telephones and opening their mail and stuff,” she added.
Following her tenure at MI5, the ex-spymaster began a career as a novelist and even chaired the judging panel for the Man Booker Prize for literature.
Her first book, “Open Secret”, was a memoir published in 2001. It created a stir, as the UK government at the time weren’t pleased about the plublication of a tell-all book. A series of novels followed, including eight with the character of Liz Carlyle, a fictional MI5 officer.
In 2022, Rimington published “The Devil’s Bargain,” which introduced a new heroine, CIA officer Manon Tyler.
Following in Rimington’s footsteps in top UK intelligence posts were Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led MI5 between 2002 and 2007, and Blaise Metreweli, who was named as the first female head of MI6 in June.
Dame Stella Rimington is survived by her husband, two daughters, five grandchildren, and her dogs.
