Michelle Haslem
British intelligence officer; Director General of the Homeland Security Group, Home Office (from 2025); previously Director General in the FCDO (2019–2025); characterised by UK Column as a 25-year covert MI6 officer who rose with minimal public profile; CMG for services to British foreign policy
| Michelle Haslem | |
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| Born | March 1974 Birkenhead |
| Died | |
| Nationality | British |
| Residence | |
| Occupation | Intelligence officer; civil servant; national-security official |
| Known for | Director General, Homeland Security Group (from 2025); Director General, FCDO (2019–2025); alleged long-term covert MI6 officer; CMG (2023) |
| Parents | |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Sibling(s) | |
| Education | |
| Predecessor | |
| Website | |
Michelle Haslem CMG (born March 1974, Birkenhead) is a British intelligence officer and civil servant. She was appointed Director General of the Homeland Security Group in the Home Office in 2025, succeeding Chloe Squires. Official biographies describe her as “a national security professional with 27 years’ experience gained from roles in the UK, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.” She previously served as a Director General in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office from 2019 to 2025. UK Column reporting characterises her as a 25-year covert MI6 officer whose name and photograph did not appear in English-language public sources until 2025–2026.[1][2]
Background
Haslem was born in March 1974 in Birkenhead to parents of Irish origin. Her father was Michael Haslem (born 1946; died June 2025) and her mother Kathleen Mullarky (born 1948); they married in Birkenhead in 1970. She has a younger brother, Jonathan (born 1977). She attended Upton Hall Convent School in Birkenhead, a Catholic grammar school. In summer 1992 she was involved in a serious road accident on the A46 Caistor bypass in which she was the driver of a vehicle that left the road; she and one other passenger were seriously injured. She received a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award in 1993. She graduated in English from the University of Nottingham in 1995 and obtained a PhD in English Literature from the University of Liverpool in 1999 (thesis submitted August 1999). The thesis, titled Familial Politics and the Stuart Court Masque, was supported by a grant from Chester College and engaged with post-structuralist and gender-focused approaches to power.[1][3]
Career
Official accounts state that Haslem has 27 years’ experience in national-security roles in the UK, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. UK Column reporting states that she joined MI6 in 1998 (around the time she completed the first draft of her PhD) and served as a covert operative for approximately 25 years, with her identity kept out of English-language public sources until 2025–2026. Postings are said to have included Southeast Asia, Paris and Bucharest. In Bucharest she is described as “Political Counsellor” (Consilier politic) at the British Embassy from 21 May 2012 until at least March 2016, a role characterised as most probably that of MI6 Station Chief. Between 1998 and 2012 she is said to have been posted overseas for at least six years. From 2016 to 2019 her role is characterised as likely involving intelligence coordination, possibly in the Cabinet Office’s National Security Secretariat.[1]
She was appointed Director General in the FCDO from September 2019 to 2025. She does not appear in public FCDO organisation charts, which UK Column interprets as consistent with a covert role. In June 2023 she was awarded the CMG for “services to British Foreign Policy,” a decoration frequently given to senior intelligence officers under diplomatic cover. In late 2025 she was appointed Director General of the Homeland Security Group, responsible for system leadership on counter-terrorism, the domestic response to state threats, countering illicit finance and economic crime, investigatory powers, and the operational relationship with MI5. No photograph of her appears on the Home Office website, unlike previous heads. She is also described as the Home Office Ethics Adviser while commanding the unit structure that includes the Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU).[1][3][2]
In an April 2025 interview with Civil Service World she described a technology programme as one of the most difficult but developmental jobs she had done, emphasising the human rather than purely technical obstacles to cross-organisational work. She has spoken publicly about demystifying national-security careers for women and diverse talent, stating that “national security careers do not equal being James Bond.” She has also expressed pride in UK actions in Ukraine, describing a visit to Kyiv and meetings with Ukrainian intelligence services as a high point of her career.[1][3]
Her first public mention in an official capacity was in November 2022 University of Nottingham Council minutes, appointing her to the Council from January 2023. In March 2025 she gave a talk on hybrid threats at Selwyn College, Cambridge, chaired by Suzanne Raine, in which she admitted postings to Southeast Asia, Paris and Bucharest.[1]
UK Column assessment
UK Column reporting argues that Haslem’s long covert MI6 career, maintained under deep cover, involved likely participation in the range of operations for which MI6 has been criticised, including those examined by the Intelligence and Security Committee in relation to rendition and torture, and the provision of intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq (as later assessed by the Chilcot Report). It notes that every previous Director General of the OSCT/HSG (Charles Farr, Tom Hurd, Chloe Squires) has been characterised as having an MI6 or closely related intelligence background, and presents the HSG as an MI6 fiefdom with primary responsibility for operational relationships with MI5 and oversight of domestic intelligence operations. The reporting links her academic work on contested power and active audiences to the practical techniques of counter-narrative and civil-society engagement used by RICU and Prevent, and contrasts her public advocacy of equality, diversity and inclusion with the history of MI6 operations. It places her appointment in the context of the 2018 Fusion Doctrine, which it describes as a whole-of-government approach that has expanded intelligence influence across government.[1][3]
Family
UK Column reporting identifies her partner as Andrew J. Cawley, with whom she was registered at successive London addresses (including 129 Henry Doulton Drive, SW17, East Dulwich, and 44 Canonbie Road, SE23). Cawley is said to have worked in Thailand in the 2010s. Her PhD acknowledgements thank “Andrew” for support. She is reported to be Facebook friends with former MI6 head Richard Moore.[1]
See also
- Homeland Security Group
- Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism
- Research, Information and Communications Unit
- Chloe Squires
- Tom Hurd
- Charles Farr
- MI6
External links
- David Miller, “The Spy Who Came in from Up North — Part 1”, UK Column
- David Miller, “The Spy Who Came in from Up North — Part 2: How MI6 Took Over British Intelligence”, UK Column
- GOV.UK biography
- Civil Service World interview (April 2025)