Sir Patrick Jeremy Walker, KCB (25 February 1932 – 13 October 2021) was a British civil servant who was Director General (DG) of

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1988 to 1992.

Early life and education

Walker was the only surviving son of civil servant Reginald Plumer Walker and his wife, Gladys. He was born at Bungsai Hospital in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Malaysia, where his parents were married in 1929. The Walkers had once owned considerable lands in northern Nottinghamshire around Mattersey and Lound, but, according to his research, lost it all "thanks to a combination of incompetence and the agricultural slump" at the end of the 19th century. His paternal grandfather, Plumer Cosby Walker, worked for the Great Northern Railway. After three years in Malaysia, the family moved to

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

, Kenya, where his father was chief accountant of East African Railways. At age 13, Walker left Kenya to be educated at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, followed by

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

Career

From 1956 to 1962, Walker served in the colonial administration in Uganda as part of the Foreign Service. He joined MI5 from the

Ugandan }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

in 1963. Walker worked extensively in

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

. At the behest of Sir

Maurice Oldfield Sir Maurice Oldfield (16 November 1915 – 11 March 1981) was a British intelligence officer and espionage administrator. He served as the seventh director of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), from 1973 to 1978. Early life Oldfield was ...

(MI5) and incoming RUC Chief Constable John Hermon, in January 1980 he was asked to review the practices and organisation of intelligence gathering by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. Recommendations from the report were implemented via a memo issued in February 1981. The report established primacy of

RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constab ...

over all areas of intelligence gathering, and the Branch would also absorb weapons and firearms analysis. All intelligence contacts were to be offered to Special Branch, and all proposed arrests were to be cleared with the Branch. As a "basic rule"

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...

(CID) officers were not to discuss a Special Branch operation or investigation with other members of CID without express permission from the Branch. It is claimed by critics that the Walker Report cemented the position of

as a force within a force, beyond normal checks and balances; established a policy of primacy of intelligence requirements over criminal investigation; led to a perception of informants as an untouchable "protected species"; and to an acceptance of cover-up and fabrication of evidence, such as that revealed after the so-called " shoot-to-kill" killings by police in 1982, that formed the subject of the Stalker inquiry.Richard Norton-Taylor and Nick Hopkins
Security service told RUC that it could put spying on terrorists ahead of solving crime
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 14 June 2001Ian Cobain and Owen Bowcott
RUC told to put intelligence before arrests, reveals secret MI5 report
''

'', 26 June 2018 The implementing memo became known in 2001; the underlying report itself was declassified in June 2018. Walker went on to be head of the counter-terrorism department. He was

Director General of MI5 __NOTOC__ The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service (commonly known as MI5), the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency. The Director General is assisted by a Deputy Director Gene ...

from January 1988 to February 1992. His term of office saw the statutory basis of MI5 established for the first time through the

Security Service Act 1989 The Security Service Act 1989 (c 5) is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament. The Act established a statutory basis of the UK Security Service (MI5) for the first time. Prior to the Act, despite its operation since 1909, successive UK governme ...

and the end of the Cold War. He was knighted in the

1990 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 1990 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 15 June 1990, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 1990. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged firstly by the ...

Personal life

Walker, whose father was a Presbyterian and his mother an Anglican, was baptised in the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with vario ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

at a few months old. He was confirmed as a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

by Ven.

Geoffrey Fisher Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury, at 16 years old while attending school. He would convert to Roman Catholicism two years after marrying his wife, Susan Hastings, in April 1955, making him the first Roman Catholic to serve as DG of MI5. They had three children and nine grandchildren. In 2009, Walker wrote an autobiography of his days in Africa, ''Towards Independence in Africa: A District Officer in Uganda at the End of Empire''. He died on 13 October 2021, at the age of 89.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Patrick 1932 births 2021 deaths People from Kuala Lumpur Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Colonial Service officers Directors General of MI5 Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Federated Malay States people Uganda Protectorate people Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism British Roman Catholics