The UK’s MI6 spy agency has appointed its first female chief in its 116-year history, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced on Sunday.
Blaise Metreweli, who is currently the foreign intelligence agency’s director of technology and innovation, will take over from Richard Moore to become MI6’s 18th leader.
The agency’s chief, referred to as “C”, is the only publicly named member of the organisation and is accountable to the British foreign secretary.
Metreweli, 47, is a career intelligence officer who joined the service in 1999. The Cambridge University graduate has mainly worked in Europe and the Middle East, and has held director-level positions at both MI6 and the domestic MI5 spy agency.
“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,” Metreweli said.
“I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners,” she added.
Starmer, who announced Metreweli’s appointment after landing in Canada for the G7 summit, called her promotion “historic”, noting that it “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,” he said.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy praised Metreweli, describing her as “the ideal candidate to lead MI6 into the future”.
“At a time of global instability and emerging security threats, where technology is power and our adversaries are working ever closer together, Blaise will ensure the UK can tackle these challenges head on to keep Britain safe and secure at home and abroad,” he said.
MI6 is the final British intelligence agency to appoint a woman as its leader.
Stella Rimington led MI5 from 1992 to 1996, and Eliza Manningham-Buller later ran it between 2002 and 2007.
In 2023, Anne Keast-Butler became the first female head of the electronic and cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ.
During his tenure, Moore, the outgoing head of MI6, vowed to make the organisation more diverse, writing on X in 2023 that he would “help forge women’s equality by working to ensure I’m the last C selected from an all-male shortlist”.
