Dame Stella Rimington, the first female director general of MI5, has died
In a 29-year career, the "housewife superspy", who was the agency's first publicly-named spymaster, "broke through long-standing barriers" and "ushered in a new era of openness and transparency", according to MI5's current head.
Tuesday 5 August 2025 03:35, UK
Dame Stella Rimington, who was the first female director general of MI5, has died, her family has announced.
She died "surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath".
Dame Stella, who was also an author, was 90.
She is widely credited as the inspiration for Dame Judi Dench's M in the James Bond films.
In a statement on its website, MI5 expressed its condolences to Dame Stella's family, friends and former colleagues.
Current director general Sir Ken McCallum said she "broke through long-standing barriers" as the agency's first female head.
He said 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".
Ms Rimington was appointed director general of MI5 in 1992, taking over the following year and holding the position until she retired from the service in 1996.
Dubbed the "housewife superspy", she was the agency's first publicly-named spymaster.
She did much to bring the service out of the shadows and explain its role to the public, including releasing historical files to the National Archives.
Her appointment - announced in a brief, two-line statement with no accompanying picture - caused a media sensation.
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.
Despite official misgivings, she was given permission to deliver the prestigious BBC Dimbleby lecture on the role of the security services in a democracy.
During her time in the top job, there were threats from the IRA and Russia, while the Islamist terror threat was also emerging.
She was made a dame in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.
Five years after retiring, to the fury of many of her former colleagues, her autobiography, Open Secret, was published.
In it, she recalled trying to combine a role that frequently involved going undercover with raising a young family.
Once, she received a call from a nanny to say her younger daughter had been taken to hospital with convulsions just as she was preparing for a crucial rendezvous with a potential defector.
In the event she managed to make it to the meeting, after first checking in at the hospital, but had to borrow money from the would-be defector to pay for all the taxis involved.
She later wrote a number of novels set in the world of intelligence and counter-terrorism, featuring the fictional MI5 officer Liz Carlyle.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Paste BN app for free
Read more on Paste BN:
Storm Floris latest: UK hit by 124mph winds
Kremlin urges nuclear caution
How Euros star juggled studies and training
After leaving MI5 she worked as a non-executive director for companies such as Marks & Spencer and BG Group.
Born Stella Whitehouse in 1935 in South Norwood, south London, she studied English at Edinburgh University and married civil servant John Rimington in 1963.
The couple moved to India two years later when he was posted to New Delhi and, two years after that, she began her 29-year career in MI5, first as a part-time clerk typist, before becoming full-time in 1969.
She worked in a variety of roles, "including counter-subversion and counter-terrorism", the agency said on its website.
During her time as director general, "the service took on the lead role in the fight against Irish republican terrorism," it said.
Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6, said on X Dame Stella was "a true trailblazer - the first female, and avowed, DG of our sister service, MI5".