MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, has appointed Blaise Metreweli as their chief. This is the first time MI6 will be led by a woman, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.
Blaise Metreweli, 47, is a career intelligence officer who joined the service in 1999, and will take over from Sir Richard Moore in the autumn, becoming its 18th chief.
Metreweli, who is currently the director general of MI6’s Q section, responsible for technology and innovation, previously held other director-level roles in MI6 and in MI5, the domestic security and counter-intelligence agency, according to a report by The Guardian.
Starmer said on the occasion, “The historic appointment of Blaise Metreweli comes at a time when the work of our intelligence services has never been more vital. The United Kingdom is facing threats on an unprecedented scale, be it aggressors who send their spy ships to our waters or hackers whose sophisticated cyber-plots seek to disrupt our public services.”
According to details in the announcement, Metreweli studied social anthropology at Cambridge University and spent much of her career in operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.
Metreweli, who was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George last year, said: “I am proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service. MI6 plays a vital role – with MI5 and GCHQ – in keeping the British people safe and promoting UK interests overseas. I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners.”
Unlike its sister UK spy agencies, MI6 has never had a female head since it was founded in 1909. MI5 has previously been led by Stella Rimington and Eliza Manningham-Buller, and the current head of GCHQ is Anne Keast-Butler, its first female leader.
Metreweli’s appointment is a case of life imitating art. Film buffs will remember Judi Dench’s turn as James Bond’s boss, M, over 17 years of the franchise.
By convention the head of MI6 is known internally as C, and is the agency’s only officer who is named and publicly acknowledged, gradually adopting a more public profile with occasional speeches and social media postings.