Open Secret

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by Stella Rimington


  Nepal, 62

  New Delhi, 50, 56–65, 232

  New Statesman (journal), 173–4, 203, 245

  New Zealand: Intelligence Oversight Committee, 198; cooperation with MI5, 205–8; SR in, 263–4

  Non-Executive Directors: function, 277–9

  Northern Ireland: and Chinook helicopter crash (1994), 180, 267; and terrorism, 218–19, 262; see also IRA; Provisional IRA

  Norway: forbids eavesdropping, 198

  Nottingham Evening Post, 18

  Nottingham Girls’ High School, 15, 17–22

  Nunkhu Ram, 59

  Observer (newspaper), 190

  Official Secrets Act, 284, 178, 197

  Osborne, John: Look Back in Anger, 29

  Pakistan: war with India, 53, 58–9

  PanAm 103 aircraft, 216

  Paris: SR works as au pair in, 24–6; SR visits to interview, 125

  Parrott, Elizabeth Jane (SR’s maternal grandmother), 4–5

  Parrott, Lilian (SR’s aunt), 16–17

  Parsons (US businessman), 82, 108

  Peshawar, 76

  Philby, Kim, 99, 119, 125, 141

  Pipavit (village, India), 60

  Poland, 240

  police: role in counter-terrorism, 217–21; see also Metropolitan Police Special Branch; Royal Ulster Constabulary

  Port Said, 54–5

  Portland spy ring, 118

  Potsdam, 240

  Pretty, Winifred, 18, 23

  Primakov, Yevgeni, 238–9

  Prime, Geoffrey, 143

  Private Eye (magazine), 259

  Profumo, John, 47, 67, 192

  Provisional IRA (PIRA): counterintelligence on, 157, 219; killing campaign against British servicemen in Germany, 199, 216; bombing campaign, 203, 264, 271; in Gibraltar operation, 208–10; and SR’s appointment to Director-General of MI5, 242, 246; intelligence on, 262–3; see also IRA

  Ranson, David, 168, 222

  Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire, 47

  Red Army Faction (Germany), 211

  Red Brigades (Italy), 211

  Rees, Merlyn (later Baron Merlyn-Rees), 190

  ‘residencies’, 139–40

  Rimington, Harriet (SR’s daughter): birth, 131; suffers convulsions, 152; involvement in mother’s activities, 203–4; education, 204; and SR’s absence in France, 223; and announcement of SR’s appointment as Director-General of MI5, 242–3; life disrupted by SR’s press harassment, 247–9; moves house with SR after retirement, 269

  Rimington, John: SR first meets, 22–3; SR re-encounters in Edinburgh, 31; courtship and engagement, 39–42; marriage to SR, 44, 47–9; career, 49–50, 108, 110, 138, 147, 253; posted to New Delhi, 50; life and work in India, 64, 66, 73; on SR’s recruitment into MI5, 68; on trip to Afghanistan, 77–9; returns from India, 80–1; invited to join Comac company, 81–2; posted to EEC in Brussels (1974), 127–8, 130–1, 135; marriage relations, 135, 145, 153, 165; returns from Brussels, 145; works on mining safety during 1984 miners’ strike, 164–5; and Frank Dobson, 166; SR separates from, 172; reveals home address, 174; on SR’s appointment as Director-General of MI5, 243

  Rimington, Rosamund (John’s sister), 53

  Rimington, Sophie (SR’s daughter): birth and childhood, 109–13, 129–30; attends Flemish school, 134; interrupts burglar, 138; involvement in mother’s activities, 203–4; education, 204, 223, 242; and announcement of SR’s appointment as Director-General of MI5, 242–3; friends questioned by police, 248; harassed by press, 249

  Rimington, Dame Stella: childhood wartime memories, 1–8; early schooling, 6, 11–13; loses pet dog, 9; at Nottingham Girls’ High Scool, 15, 17–22; attends Edinburgh University, 23, 26–32; glandular fever, 29–30; graduates and studies archive administration, 33–4; post with Worcestershire County Record Office, 34–9; acquires first car, 40; engagement to John, 41; works at India Office Library, 41, 44–7, 53; marriage to John, 44, 47–8; claustrophobia and migraines, 48–9, 51; moves to New Delhi, 50, 53–4; domestic and social life in Delhi, 59–60, 62–6, 70, 74; teaches English in India, 59–60; recruited into MI5 in Delhi, 67–71, 74; amateur dramatics, 70–1, 279; returns from India (1969), 80–1; claustrophobia disappears, 81; MI5 interviews and appoints in London, 82–3, 90–2; early training and duties in MI5, 95–8, 101; buys houses in Islington, 107, 145, 172–3; pregnancies and children, 107–8, 110–14, 125, 127, 129–32; views on women’s rights, 111; promoted to officer status in MI5, 122–4; marriage relations, 135, 145, 153, 165; employs nannies and au pairs, 136–8, 153; house burgled, 137–8; fractures skull and suffers haematoma, 146; attends MI5 agent-running course, 147–8; makes first contact with foreign intelligence source, 148–50; operates in agent recruitment, 150–4, 158; promoted Assistant Director of counter-subversion section, 159–61; on Marsden Trust, 165–6; management methods, 168–9; as Director of Counter-terrorism, 169, 210, 216–18; applies for Headship of Roedean school, 171–2; separates from John, 172; press interest in, 173–4; social life restrictions, 177; made acting Director for counter-subversion sections, 181; promoted Director of Counterespionage (‘K’), 185; testifies in court cases, 185–6; discussions with Prime Minister, 193, 263–6; as Director of Counterespionage, 202–3, 205; appointed Deputy Director-General of MI5, 222, 225, 229; studies French in Lille, 223–4; contacts with ex-enemies after end of Cold War, 230–1; travels to Russia and Eastern Europe, 232–40; post-retirement jobs in corporate/business world, 236, 272–3; appointed Director-General of MI5, 241–4, 252; media reactions to appointment and work, 244–51, 255–8; forced to move house after press harassment, 246–50; delivers BBC’s Dimbleby Lecture (1994), 257; retires from MI5 (1996), 267, 269; applies for Mastership of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 270–1; on differences between public and private sector management, 271–8

  Roche, Barbara, 258

  Roedean school, 171–2

  Roland Gardens, South Kensington, 43, 49, 53

  Roosevelt, Franklin D., 206

  Royal Marsden Hospital, 165

  Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), 105, 218; Special Branch head killed in Chinook helicopter disaster, 267

  Russia see Soviet Union

  Russian Intelligence Residency, London, 101

  St John of Fawsley, Norman St John-Stevas, Baron, 270–1

  Sandiacre, Derbyshire, 26

  Sargeant, E.H., 35–8, 40, 96, 169

  Secret Service Bureau: created, 83, 86

  Security Commission: enquiry into Bettaney, 178

  Security Service Act (1989), 88, 161–2, 194–5, 197–8, 242, 258, 260

  Security Service, The see MI5

  Shayler, David, 177

  Sheffield, HMS, 156

  Shipp, Cecil, 157–9

  Sieff, Rebecca (later Lady), 3

  Sillitoe, Sir Percy: Cloak without Dagger, 286

  Snow, Jon, 256

  Socialist Workers’ Party, 161

  South Norwood, 2–3

  Soviet Union: advisers in India, 71–3; Western intelligence on, 88; and communist subversion, 89, 161, 163; counterintelligence on, 106–7, 142, 206; recruits British agents, 126; residencies and intelligence activities in UK, 139–42; British exclusion policy on intelligence agents, 140–1; dissolved, 229, 232–3; see also KGB; Moscow

  Special Branch see Metropolitan Police Special Branch

  Spectator (journal), 247, 256

  Stanhope Properties, 228

  Stanton Ironworks, Ilkeston, 15, 26

  Steinhauer, Gustav: The Kaiser’s Master Spy, 86

  Stewart, Michael (later Baron), 65

  Stone (of Bank of England), 66

  Stoppard, Sir Tom: Fifteen-Minute Hamlet, 279

  Straw, Jack, 191

  subversion: defined, 161–2

  Suez Canal, 54

  Sun newspaper: announces SR’s marriage breakdown, 244; SR’s manuscript leaked to, 285

  Sunday Times, 245–7

  Susan (London flatmate), 43–4

  Sussex, University of, 95

  Sutherland, Fergus, 31


  SVR (Russian intelligence service), 239

  Taj Mahal, 58

  Taylor, Graham, 250

  telephone-tapping, 166–7, 194–5

  terrorism: actions against, 106, 159, 197–9, 207–9, 216–17, 223, 253, 261–3

  Thames House, London: MI5 occupies and converts, 164, 202, 227–8

  Thatcher, Margaret, Baroness: at Curzon Street House, 160; and miners’ strike (1984), 163–5; appoints Duff to Director-Generalship of MI5, 178; on telephone-tapping, 195; SR meets, 198–9; and Brighton bomb (1984), 219; and control of public expenditure, 225; and cost of Thames House, 228

  Thompson, Averil F., 46

  Thouvenal, Dr and Madame, 25–6

  Times, The, 257

  Todd, Miss (Nottingham schoolteacher), 19, 22

  Tomlinson, Richard, 177

  trade unions: Communist influence in, 128

  Treasury: scrutinises MI5 resource management, 225–7

  Turnbull, Malcolm, 189

  Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), 104

  United States of America: advisers in India, 71–2; co-operation with Britain over counterespionage, 205–7; and Northern Ireland, 263

  Venice, 80

  Victoria (ship), 80

  Waldegrave, William, 227

  Walker family (USA), 141

  Walker, Sir Patrick, 198, 207–8, 210

  Wallasey, 4–5

  Walney Island, 13

  Walsingham, Sir Francis, 82

  Ward, Stephen, 47

  Warsaw Pact countries: intelligence activities in UK, 139–40

  Washington, DC, 146

  Waugh, Auberon, 247

  whistleblowing, 186–7

  Whitehouse, Brian (SR’s brother): childhood, 1–2, 5–8, 11, 16; illnesses, 4; schooling, 15; National Service, 30, 33; career, 33

  Whitehouse, David (SR’s father): in wartime, 1–2; background and career, 2, 4, 9, 14, 26; calm during bombing, 7; character and values, 9–10; concern over world affairs, 30; retirement, 47; sees SR off to India, 53

  Whitehouse, Muriel Clare (SR’s mother; née Parrott): in war, 1–3, 6; midwifery career, 3–4; beliefs and values, 9–10; death (1997), 10; Ilkeston home, 15–16; at Ravenshead, 47; sees SR off to India, 53; and SR as working mother, 110, 112; visits SR in Brussels, 133

  Whitmore, Sir Clive, 241–2

  Wilson, Harold (later Baron), 59, 65; Peter’s Wright’s allegations of plot against, 189–90

  Wilson, Sir Richard, 284

  Woking, 80–2

  women: and unequal pay, 40; status in MI5, 90–1, 94, 101–3, 120–2, 124, 127, 149–50, 156–8, 185, 199, 222–3, 251; as working mothers, 110–15, 136–8; qualities as intelligence officers, 122–3; as Foreign Office wives, 132–3; police service treatment of, 262; status on corporate Boards, 275–6

  Woodall-Duckhams (company), 15

  Worcestershire County Record Office, 34–40

  Wright, Peter: believes Security Service penetrated, 100–1; Hanley removes from service, 116; interviews Cairncross, 119; and Spycatcher case, 170, 186–9; disgruntlement over treatment, 177–8; on eavesdropping and search operations, 194–5; on CAZAB link, 207

  Wroe, Donald, 56–7

  Yates, Dornford, 95

  My parents on their wedding day in 1929, ‘in high hopes of a prosperous future’.

  In my pram in 1935. ‘I seemed pretty well set up.’

  With my mother and my brother, Brian, on holiday in Bournemouth in 1938.

  ‘Night after night the German bombers came over to try to flatten the Liverpool docks,’ 1941.

  5 Ilkley Road, Barrow, 1942. ‘We stuck tape over the windows and battened down to see out the war.’

  Unwelcome guests in Edinburgh, 1956: Bulganin and Khrushchev. ‘Bulge and Krush go home!’

  Graduation day, 1958. ‘A degree in English seemed to qualify one for nothing.’

  Visiting families who had interesting historical papers, 1961.

  The India Office Library Reading Room, 1963. ‘The old East India Company clock ticking loudly presided over everything.’

  The Establishment Club, hotbed of early ’60s satire. ‘My cutlery drawer to this day contains some of the Club’s knives and forks, which have gone round the world with me.’

  The Denning Report, 1963. ‘I waited in a queue to buy one hot off the press.’

  'The part I enjoyed least was the diplomatic wife role.' I stand in line to be received by the President of India, 1968.

  On the voyage to India, 1965. 'Got up very patriotically as the lion and the unicorn, we won a prize.'

  I was playing Marcelle in ‘Hotel Paradiso’, 1968.

  ‘All this work came at an untimely moment. I needed to learn my part,’ 1968.

  Walking up the garden path to my first job in MI5.

  On the road to Kabul, 1968. ‘John’s cheque passed through half the camel and carpet bazaars of Central Asia.’

  Our engine boiled and we lost all power and stopped. ‘Disaster, I thought, we will never see Afghanistan!’

  ‘In 1909 two officers were plucked out of the armed services and told to form a Secret Service Bureau.’

  Mansfield Cumming.

  Vernon Kell.

  ‘With my wardrobe of exotic Indian clothes, I could not quite see how I was going to fit in,’ 1969.

  ‘My intention of returning to work after having a baby was incomprehensible to most of my male colleagues,’ 1971.

  ‘By the time I worked on the Ring of Five we still did not know how they had been recruited or who had put who in touch with whom.’

  Burgess

  Maclean

  Philby

  Blunt

  Cairncross

  Viktor Lazine leaving Heathrow in a hurry after being expelled from the UK for 'unacceptable activities'. 9 August 1981. 'When the news reported the expulsion of a certian Russian officials, I seemed unusally cheerful.'

  Georgi Markov, later poisoned with an umbrella by the Bulgarian Secret Service, while on Waterloo Bridge. 'I was notified of the incident by the police in a telephone call one evening ...I did not take the reported stabbing seriously at first, though of course it turned out to be true.'

  The miners’ strike, 1984. ‘The activities of picket lines and miners’ wives support groups were not our concern, even though they were of great concern to the police.’

  Miners warm themselves by braziers at Corton Wood Colliery near Sheffield.

  Arthur Scargill at Orgreave coking plant.

  In the garden of Spion Kop, 1978.

  John and me at a party, 1983.

  We put Spion Kop on the market, 1984.

  ‘The new house had been restored in a very stark scraped-out way, with everything painted white.’ Harriet at Alwyne Villas, 1984.

  The New Statesman turned up at the front door and later covertly photographed me in the street, 1986.

  Sir Robert Armstrong confronts a photographer on his way to Australia for the Spycatcher Trial, 1987.

  The CAZAB conference, 1988. 'We met on an island inhabited by kangaroos, with a level of security I personally thought was ridiculous.'

  ‘We were focused on the Provisional IRA’s efforts to kill British military personnel in Europe.’ A shooting at Roermond, Holland, in 1988.

  Vadim V. Bakatin, whom Gorbachev had put in charge of the KGB – ‘a true democrat who was seriously interested in reforming that organization’.

  'Our meetings with the KGD were held in their HQ in Dzerzhinsky Square,' 1991.

  'In the gaps between meetings we sightsaw in Moscow in temperatures colder than I had experienced.'

  My life becomes an open secret.

  ‘Photographers camped outside the house and took desperately unflattering pictures of me looking dishevelled on a Saturday morning.’ 1991.

  John Major opens the new MI5 building, 1994.

  Visit to Trinidad with British Gas, 1999.

  Celebrating my sixty-fourth birthday by playing in Tom Stoppard’s The Fifteen-Minute Ham
let, in a barge theatre in Copenhagen, 1999.

  The launch of the booklet about MI5. My first photocall as Director-General, with Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, 1993.

  Jonathan Dimbleby calming me down before the Dimbleby Lecture, 1994.

  With the Director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, in his office, 1996.

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