Blaise Metreweli, the head of Britain’s MI6, highlighted the work of her spies to protect the UK and the world during her recent speech.
In May 2025, UK named Metreweli, a career intelligence officer, as the first female head of the Secret Intelligence Service, the foreign spy service known as MI6.
In her recent speech inside the agency’s headquarters, she said: “Welcome inside MI6. This iconic building familiar to movie fans everywhere is the home of Britain’s foreign intelligence service.
But whilst hundreds of my team pass through the entry pods every day, the truth is that most of our work happens many miles away from this place, out of sight, hidden from the world, undercover, recruiting and running agents who choose to place their trust in us, sharing secrets to make the UK and the world safer.
You might pass one of our officers on the streets or sit next to them on a plane when you are about to set off on an adventure of your own. Or in a foreign city taking selfies by the sights.”
A clip of her speech was shared on the agency’s Instagram page where thousands of people engaged with it. Hundreds others shared their thoughts on the agency’s work in the comments section.
Prominent among them was Piers Morgan who praised the MI6 chief. “Excellent speech by a very impressive lady,” he wrote.
MI6, depicted by novelists as the employer of some of the most memorable fictional spies, from John le Carré’s George Smiley to Ian Fleming’s James Bond, operates overseas and is tasked with defending Britain and its interests.
