Stella Rimington
 Stella Rimington       ( Spook, author) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||
| Born | 13 May 1935 South London, England, UK | |||||||||||
| Died | 4 August 2025 (Age 90) | |||||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh | |||||||||||
| Spouse | John Rimington | |||||||||||
| Member of | AWZ Capital, Trilateral Commission | |||||||||||
Director General of MI5 in the 1990s
| ||||||||||||
Dame Stella Rimmington was a senior UK spook. She joined MI5 and was reportedly "Senior Deputy Director General" from 1990[1]-1991/1992[2][3] and Director General of MI5 from 1992-1995.
Career
Rimington defended MI5's surveillance of left-wing groups, commenting that
“Well all I can say is that Communist and Trotskyist organisations, by their philosophy, their published aims, would have fallen within the definition of subversion.”
Stella Rimington [4]
1984-85 Miners' strike
Rimington was head of the MI5 branch responsible for 'monitoring' unions and strike activity during the 1984-85 Miners'strike, bugging the phones of trade unionists, tracking their movements and tracing their bank accounts[5]. In order to freeze union funds, she deployed agents provocateurs within the National Union of Mineworkers, including Roger Windsor, Chief Executive Officer of the NUM 1983 to 1989, an agent of MI5 under Rimington, sent in to the NUM to destabilise and sabotage the Union.
In 1984 Windsor made contact with Libyan officials through Altaf Abasi and staged a televised meeting with Colonel Gaddafi, causing immense damage to the striking miners. Windsor's actions led to serious and expensive internal disputes, notably a £100,000 libel damages settlement as a result of a letter Windsor forged in the name of David Prendergast of the rival union U.D.M.[6] In March 1990, under Stella Rimington's guidance, Windsor was the sole witness, paid £80,000 for his testimony by Robert Maxwell, behind allegations of corruption against the NUM leadership, published in the Daily Mirror, later proved to be entirely untrue.[7][8]
Rimington was MI5/G Branch/Director from 1988-1990[9] As Director General she disbanded a specialist section of G7 responsible for "Islamic terrorism" in 1994 against the protests of experienced counter-terrorist officers[Who?].[10]
Death
She died aged 90.[11]
References
- ↑ Stella Rimington, Open Secret, Arrow Books, 2002, p.222.
- ↑ http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Spy-Chiefs.htm
- ↑ Stella Rimington, Open Secret, Arrow Books, 2002, p.241.
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/07/mi5-miners-strike-national-archives-security-service-government
- ↑ https://www.thepensivequill.com/2024/02/the-miners-strike-40-years-on.html
- ↑ https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/5387/mrs-stella-rimington-and-the-miners-union
- ↑ https://intelligencehistory.substack.com/p/mi5-and-the-miners-strike
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.772.
- ↑ Document:UK Intelligence And Security Report, 2003
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkrm00y6rgo
