MI6 breaks 100-year norm as a woman takes charge

BRITAIN’S Secret Intelligence Service will be led by a woman for the first time in the agency's history after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he had selected a career spy with extensive experience in technology and Middle East operations to lead the storied MI6.

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Blaise Metreweli, who will assume the top position later this year, takes over at a time of deepening international crises - with Israel and Iran suddenly at war, the conflict in Ukraine grinding into its fourth year and Russia accused of sabotage attacks across Europe amid doubts about the transatlantic partnership with the US.

The appointment of a woman marks a milestone for an intelligence service often depicted as a bastion of sexism in James Bond movies.

But Metreweli, 47, had already ascended into the upper ranks of the agency in another role — “Q” - made famous by those Hollywood films.