The former chief of MI6 has paid tribute to 'trailblazer' and 'proper spy' Baroness Meta Ramsay, the woman once tipped to be the first female head of the service who died on Thursday.
Lady Ramsay's 22–year career saw her become the most senior officer in MI6 and take part in the 1985 extraction of KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky from the Soviet Union – one of the most audacious operations of the Cold War.
On news of her death, former MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore described her as 'wise, kind, fun'.
He said: 'She was a trailblazer for women in MI6 and so thrilled that Blaise Metreweli, first woman 'C', like her, was a proper spy who had run operations.'
Politicians also paid tribute to Lady Ramsay, who entered politics after leaving MI6 in the early 1990s, becoming foreign policy adviser to Labour leader John Smith and then a government minister under Sir Tony Blair.
