Overview
- Baroness Meta Ramsay died on Thursday, May 28, 2026, and her death prompted tributes from across the political spectrum and from current and former intelligence figures.
- She spent 22 years in the Secret Intelligence Service, rose to be the most senior woman officer, ran the Helsinki station in the 1980s and took part in the 1985 extraction of KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky.
- Compulsory retirement from MI6 at age 55 led her into politics as foreign policy adviser to John Smith, a life peer and then a minister under Tony Blair where she helped steer the 1998 Scotland Act through the Lords.
- After leaving government she served as a deputy Lords speaker in 2002 and was appointed to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee in 2005, roles that kept her involved in oversight of MI6, MI5 and GCHQ.
- Colleagues described her as a 'trailblazer for women in MI6,' with former MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore praising her character and noting her place in a line of women who later reached the service's top job.