Life of Britain's top spy boss with codename 'C' knighted in Birthday Honours
Britain's only publicly named spy has made it onto the King's Birthday Honours list - as he is recognised for keeping us all safe through an "exceptionally challenging period".
Sir Richard Moore, more commonly referred to as "C" according to tradition, is the boss of MI6 - Britain's secret intelligence service.
Libya-born Moore, who will be knighted on Saturday, was Britain's former ambassador to Turkey, speaks fluent Turkish, and has worked for MI6 since 1987, serving in Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Vietnam.
And now he's been named on the King's Birthday Honours list thanks to his "outstanding contribution to British foreign policy" - but who is the mysterious officer?
He's the head of MI6 (PA)What do you think about the Birthday Honours tradition? Let us know in the comments...
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The 60-year-old was appointed as chief in 2020 and has served under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.
The top spy was previously the political director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and played a pivotal role in Turkey from 2014 to 2017.
He represented Britain as Islamic State went on a killing spree in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
He then took over the MI6 position from Sir Alex Younger.
He was also Deputy National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office and is married to Maggie, with whom he has two children. He is a golf, cricket and rugby fan.
Speaking in 2020 when news of his new job as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, Mr Moore said: "I am pleased and honoured to be asked to return to lead my Service.
"SIS plays a vital role - with MI5 and GCHQ - in keeping the British people safe and promoting UK interests overseas.
He said in a rare interview that he doesn't have an Aston Martin, which is a shame (BBC)"I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave and dedicated team at SIS."
After taking on the top role, the spy chief went on a mission to bring diversity to the country's Secret Intelligence Service – and was inspired by his wife.
He tweeted: "Married as I am to an inspiring blind woman, I feel particularly strongly about making #SIS #MI6 a better place for disabled people."
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His views were backed up by the British ambassador to Panama Damion Potter, who replied: "Totally agree. We should be accessible to all. When my brother was born with cerebral palsy the doctors said he would never draw a circle. 40+ years later he is married, with three kids, has a job, a degree and more. However, he still can't draw a circle."
The top spy's wife helped establish the Turkish Guide Dogs Association when he was ambassador to the country from 2014 to 2017.
Both he and his wife are also fluent in Turkish and are understood to have learnt the language prior to and during his role as ambassador. The couple married in 1985 and have a son and a daughter.
He works in MI6's headquarters (PA)The Oxford-educated SIS chief has decided that he will run the organisation differently to his predecessors and is the first head of British intelligence to embrace social media and tweet.
He has already praised female spies inside MI6 calling them "inspiring" and has said that he is "keen to see even greater diversity of skills and backgrounds". Adding: "Come join a great team."
He also tweeted: "Wishing all of our Sikh, Hindu and Jain colleagues and everyone around the world a very Happy #Diwali and #BandiChhorDivas."
One intelligence source praised the top spook for publicly stating that disabled people can play a vital role in Britain's security.
The source said: "Richard Moore arrived at MI6 like a breath of fresh air. Everyone in the intelligence community is very pleased that he has said this. But you might ask why it has taken so long for a head of MI6 to take this stance."
There is already a team inside MI6 who use the codename Scooter whose role is to develop awareness of disability.
He campaigned to make the secret service more disability friendly (Getty Images)The unit was inspired by SIS's first chief, Sir Mansfield Cumming, who transported himself around the corridors of Whitehall on a scooter after losing his leg in a car accident.
MI6 says on its website: "We equip managers with the information they need to talk openly about disability, advise colleagues and provide staff with the right support.
"Our name (Scooter) expresses our core belief – that any person with a disability is capable of achieving their ambitions."
Across the River Thames at the headquarters of the MI5, disabled people have been playing a crucial role in hunting down terrorists and enemies of the state for several years.
MI5 won an award for making the security service a Business Disability Forum Smart Award for Workplace Experience in 2019.
In 2021, Mr Moore gave a rare interview and said he had no James Bond-style Aston Martin and his pen emits nothing more exotic than green ink.
Mr Moore insisted he's no James Bond, but he would say that - wouldn't he? (Getty Images)He said the Bond films were "wonderful" but stressed "it is not reality", and admitted he "did some skulking" in his career but insisted it was a long way from the "colourful" popular image of spy tradecraft.
While 007's boss goes by the name M, Mr Moore follows in the Secret Intelligence Service tradition of being known as C.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that many mistakenly think C stands for chief, but "it stands for Cumming, as in Mansfield Cumming (the first head of MI6); he was a naval man and he wrote in green ink".
Presenter Nick Robinson said: "And at the moment anybody who gets a document with green ink in that building knows it comes from..."
Mr Moore replied: "From me, and the same is true of my typescript on my computer."
He said there are no gadgets on his car, adding: "And I can assure you it is not, sadly, an Aston Martin."
Mr Moore said the service's fictional link to Ian Fleming's Bond had to be celebrated rather than viewed as a burden.
"It is fiction, it is not reality but the Bond franchise is a wonderful one. I had such fun watching the most recent film - no spoilers here but it is brilliant, it doffs a cap to all the great James Bond traditions."
He added that "we embrace James Bond even though we know it is not true life".
Mr Robinson asked whether Mr Moore had ever donned a beard or moustache while "skulking on the streets as a young agent", or if that is no longer the world that MI6 inhabits.
Mr Moore said: "If that was ever the world we lived in, that's certainly not the world we live in now."
And now the spy chief is set to be knighted, after being named on the King's Birthday Honours list.
A Cabinet Office press release reads: "Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, Richard Moore, is knighted for his outstanding contribution to British foreign policy and national security, leading the organisation during an exceptionally challenging period which has seen the first major conflict on European soil since the Second World War."
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