The UK could soon have a bent Bond!

Spy agency MI5 announced this weekend that they've asked gay group Stonewall to help them recruit same-sex loving secret agents, a complete turnaround from the program's past:

The contract marks a significant change in stance by MI5. Gay men and women were barred from working in sensitive posts in the diplomatic or security services until the early 1990s, a quarter of a century after sexual acts between men were decriminalised in 1967. The ostensible rationale was concern that gay spies could be vulnerable to blackmail, while gay ambassadors could exacerbate tensions between the UK and countries that still criminalise homosexuality.

MI5 would have been highly unlikely to want to work closely with Stonewall in the decade to 2002, when the group was headed by Angela Mason. Ms Mason was tried and acquitted in the 1970s of planting bombs on the doorsteps of Conservative ministers.

Yeah, we can see how that would make things awkward.

The progressive steps have been in the works since Jonathan Evans back in 2005, the same year as deadly bombings rocked London. Rather than recruiting well-educated elite, Evans hopes to get a more mixed crowd playing cloaks and daggers.