The head of British foreign intelligence, Richard Moore, and the Secretary General of Downing Street, Simon Case, resigned on Wednesday March 20 from a posh London club reserved for men, after their membership in this organization sparked criticism.
These two resignations of senior public officials in the country come two days after the British 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 as being the symbol of masculine intimacy in places of power and influence. 'influence.
Some 1,500 men
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 the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, senior civil servants, a dozen judges, around 150 lawyers, as well as artists, such as actors Brian Cox, Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Bonneville.
The name of the head of Foreign Intelligence (MI 6), Richard Moore, also appeared in this list. Information “which made people cough internally”, according to the Guardian, while Richard Moore spoke out on several occasions to bring more diversity within MI 6, to which the image of a nest of spies still sticks. masculine like James Bond, not very open to women. So much so that the latter 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, he explains, in his message, that he wants to prevent his membership in the Garrick Club from harming the initiatives launched within MI 6 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 Press Association agency. Several 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.
