LONDON | The head of Britain's secret service and the country's most senior civil servant resigned Wednesday from a posh London club reserved for men, after their membership in the organization sparked criticism.
These two resignations of two senior public officials in the country come two days after the daily The Guardian revealed the list of the most famous members of the Garrick Club, one of the oldest private “gentlemen's clubs” in London, founded in 1831.
Like other prestigious clubs, the Garrick Club is reserved for men under an old rule still in force and which is regularly denounced as archaic and the symbol of masculine intimacy in places of power and influence. .
Among the members cited by The Guardian, which was able to obtain for the first time the complete list of some 1,500 men belonging to this institution, include King Charles III, several ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, senior civil servants, around ten judges, around 150 lawyers, as well as artists, such as actors Brian Cox (Succession), Benedict Cumberbatch, and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey).
All men therefore, but also especially white and elderly men, highlighted the daily life.
The name of the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Richard Moore, also appeared in this list.
Information which caused people to cough internally, according to the Guardian, while Richard Moore spoke out on several occasions to bring more diversity within MI6, to which the image of a nest of male spies still sticks. James Bond, not very open to women.
So much so that the head of the Secret Intelligence Service wrote to all employees on Wednesday morning to inform them that he had decided to leave the club, after speaking with female colleagues.
According to the newspaper, in his message he explains that he wants to prevent his membership of the Garrick club from harming the initiatives launched within MI6 to fight against the under-representation of women within it.
The general secretary of Downing Street, that is to say the highest civil servant in the country, Simon Case has also decided to leave the club, according to the PA news agency.
Several of the members of the Garrick club cited by The Guardian defended themselves, claiming to campaign within the organization to accept women. In 2015, a vote on the subject did not achieve a sufficient majority. A new vote must take place in June.