44 Facts About Eliza Manningham-Buller

Eliza Manningham-Buller was Director General of MI5, the British internal Security Service, from October 2002 until her retirement in April 2007.

Lady Manningham-Buller worked as a teacher for three years at Queen's Gate School, Kensington, London from 1971 to 1974, having read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, before joining the Security Service.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was recruited to the Security Service at a drinks party when someone suggested that she see someone at the Ministry of Defence.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was a senior liaison officer working out of Washington, DC to the US intelligence community over the period of the first Gulf War, before leading the newly created Irish counter-terrorism section from 1992 when MI5 were given the lead responsibility for such work.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was appointed Deputy Director General in 1997, and succeeded Sir Stephen Lander as Director General in 2002, the second woman to take on the role after Dame Stella Rimington.

Eliza Manningham-Buller resigned from MI5 on 21 April 2007, and was succeeded by her deputy, Jonathan Evans.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was 'raised to the peerage' as Baroness Manningham-Buller, of Northampton in the County of Northamptonshire on 2 June 2008.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was appointed to the Court and Council of Imperial College London in 2009, becoming Deputy chairman later that year, and named chairman in July 2011.

Eliza Manningham-Buller became a governor of biomedical research charity the Wellcome Trust in 2008 and the first female chair of the Trust on 1 October 2015.

Eliza Manningham-Buller left the Wellcome Trust in 2021, being replaced as chair by Julia Gillard on 12 April 2021.

On St George's Day, 2014, Lady Manningham-Buller was appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II.

Eliza Manningham-Buller became chair of the Conduct Committee on 19 January 2022.

Eliza Manningham-Buller took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, carrying St Edward's Staff.

Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller was the second daughter in a family of four, born to Reginald Eliza Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne, and his wife, the former Lady Mary Lindsay.

Eliza Manningham-Buller's father, Lord Dilhorne was a Conservative MP from 1943 to 1962.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was Britain's second highest legal officer, the Solicitor General.

Eliza Manningham-Buller later held the office of Lord Chancellor for two years.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was created an hereditary peer with the title Viscount Dilhorne.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was educated at Northampton High School and Benenden School.

Eliza Manningham-Buller has made speeches to invited audiences containing members of the press, as well as making court statements.

Eliza Manningham-Buller warned that the threat from international terrorism would be "with us for a good long time", which was why new legislation had been introduced.

On 21 October 2005, BBC News reported Eliza Manningham-Buller's leaked court statement to the Law Lords regarding methods for collecting intelligence from overseas.

Press have speculated that Megeurba was tortured to obtain this information, although Eliza Manningham-Buller has maintained neither she nor MI5 were aware of the "precise circumstances that attended their [Algerian agencies'] questioning of Megeurba".

Eliza Manningham-Buller emphasised that, had MI5 requested information regarding how the intelligence had been gathered, its request would have been ignored and the relationship between Britain and Algeria could have been damaged.

Eliza Manningham-Buller concluded by exemplifying the "importance of co-operation between states in countering the threat from international terrorism".

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, commended Eliza Manningham-Buller for being "brutally honest" about the activities of intelligence agencies.

Eliza Manningham-Buller stated that Britain should not "legitimise" torture as a means of intelligence gathering by accepting evidence gained in such a manner as evidence in court.

Eliza Manningham-Buller stated that the British intelligence services do not ask how intelligence is obtained "because that would make things difficult".

On 9 November 2006, Eliza Manningham-Buller gave a speech to the Mile End Group at Queen Mary, University of London as a guest of Professor Peter Hennessy in which she warned that her office was tracking 30 terror plots, and 200 groupings or networks, totalling over 1,600 individuals.

In September 2011 Eliza Manningham-Buller delivered one of the BBC Radio Reith Lectures and answered questions from an audience that included historian Peter Hennessy and novelist Ian McEwan.

On 8 July 2008, Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller made her maiden speech in the House of Lords since her resignation.

Eliza Manningham-Buller told the House that she was against government plans to extend the time period for retaining terrorist suspects in the UK from 28 to 42 days.

Eliza Manningham-Buller told peers that she disagreed on a "practical basis as well as a principled one".

Eliza Manningham-Buller criticised the plans for terrorism detention as being not "in any way workable" and emphasised the need for all political parties to work together in finding a solution for dealing with terrorism.

Furthermore, Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller maintained that "complete security" could never be achieved in a country and that civil liberties were at risk of being compromised if the plans were passed by the House of Lords.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry in July 2010 said the decision to go to war meant that "Our involvement in Iraq, for want of a better word, radicalised a whole generation of young people, some of them British citizens who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam," she said, before immediately correcting herself by adding "not a whole generation, a few among a generation".

Eliza Manningham-Buller said she believed the intelligence on Iraq's threat was not "substantial enough" to justify the action.

Eliza Manningham-Buller was a castaway on Desert Island Discs broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2007 giving her first interview after her retirement.

Eliza Manningham-Buller talked briefly about her personal life and her former professional life, including her reactions to the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the importance of protecting their agents.

Eliza Manningham-Buller explained that she had decided on her retirement date shortly after she took up the Director General job, choosing to retire with a total of 33 years' service in the security services.

Eliza Manningham-Buller chose an anthology of poems edited by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney, entitled The Rattle Bag.

Eliza Manningham-Buller revealed details of her own role in the discussions involving international security agencies in the days following the attacks on New York and Washington DC and examined the impact the US-led invasion of Iraq had on the fight against al-Qaeda.

Eliza Manningham-Buller said that the use of torture had not made the world a safer place, adding that the use of water-boarding by the United States was a "profound mistake" and as a result America lost its "moral authority".

Eliza Manningham-Buller stated that it was "necessary" to talk to dictators and terrorists, to protect security and said that the British government's decision to engage with Colonel Gaddafi in 2003 was "the right decision".