1 month ago
Richard Moore, the head of MI6, has resigned his membership of the Garrick Club after intense criticism of his decision to join a club that has repeatedly blocked the admission of women as members.
The decision by the chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service comes two days after the Guardian published for the first time details of the club’s closely guarded membership list, revealing that fellow members include judges, scores of senior lawyers, the head of the civil service, leaders of publicly funded arts institutions and King Charles.
Moore’s decision to quit the male-only Garrick is understood to follow internal criticism from colleagues within MI6, which has repeatedly restated its commitment to improving the service’s poor record on equality and diversity.
Moore is understood to have written to all MI6 staff twice within the space of 24 hours. The first message, sent to thousands of the service’s employees on Tuesday morning, addressed the Guardian’s coverage and acknowledged the reputational hit that news of his membership posed to the service, and in particular the risk of it undermining its work to attract more women to join MI6.
In that note, he said he would not be resigning because he was campaigning from within the club for women to be allowed to join.
But at 9am on Wednesday morning he sent a second shorter note to staff saying that on further reflection overnight he had decided to quit the Garrick, the Guardian understands.
He is also understood to feel mortified at the attention surrounding his club membership because it has detracted from MI6’s work to address the under-representation of women. The resignation followed conversations with senior female colleagues.
His resignation is likely to put pressure on other high-profile members of the club to rethink their membership.
Simon Case, who as cabinet secretary is the leader of half a million civil servants, was also condemned on Tuesday for arguing he had only joined the London gentleman’s club in an attempt to overturn its all-male policy.
Case was asked by the former Labour minister Liam Byrne how he could “foster a genuine culture of inclusiveness” while also being a Garrick member. He replied: “I have to say today my position on this one is clear, which is that if you believe profoundly in reform of an institution, by and large it’s easier to do if you join it to make the change from within rather than chuck rocks from the outside.”
Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government thinktank, which works with MPs and senior civil servants to make government more effective, said Case’s justification of his membership was “bizarre”.
She said Case and Moore’s membership sent a “terrible message” to junior civil servants. “They are supposed to be the figureheads who are leading schemes to promote equality in the civil service to ensure that there is diversity throughout the civil service.”
News of Moore’s membership of a club that has refused to admit women since it was founded in 1831 came after a concerted drive by MI6 to demonstrate that it is no longer staffed exclusively by white, male Oxbridge graduates and is open to a wide range of applicants.
On its website, the service says it “is committed to building a workforce that reflects the society we serve”. Tweeting from the @chiefMI6 account, Moore has previously expressed his service’s commitment to diversity, with the hashtag #ForgetJamesBond.
As revealed by the Guardian this week, the Garrick’s membership includes a supreme court judge, five court of appeal judges, eight high court judges, about 150 KCs, dozens of members of the House of Lords and 10 MPs, plus heads of influential thinktanks, law firms, private equity companies, academics, prominent actors, rock stars and senior journalists.
The publication of the names of judges who are members has triggered unease from female barristers.
Helen Mountfield KC, a specialist in equality law, said: “I would not feel that a client of mine was getting a fair hearing in a case concerning sex discrimination which was heard by a judge who was a member of the Garrick Club.”
She added: “Deciding to be a member of a club, open to members on the basis of professional attainment, and in which informal connections are made, seems to suggest that a person is prepared to tolerate discrimination and bias.”
