Stella Rimington: Secrets and spies
Andrew Mueller of The Independent has been interviewing former MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington, and finds her tight-lipped on anything to do with her 27 years defending Britain as a serving intelligence officer:
So, just to make sure we’re clear, even if Harold Wilson was a KGB plant, even if Gerry Adams has been wearing Union Jack boxer shorts since 1972, even if the Royal Family are shapeshifting lizard creatures from a parallel dimension … “I wouldn’t tell you,” she confirms.
However, she’s forthright about the government’s ID cards scheme:
She is … unenthused about another of New Labour’s brilliant ideas for protecting us from terrorism.
“I don’t think ID cards would make us safer,” she says. “I suppose if they came in, I would have one, though I do object to the vast expenditure of public money until we’re very clear what good it’s going to achieve.”
