Future James Bonds not willing to risk lives for poor pay, MI6 chief warns

New recruits to the intelligence services tend to start on around £25,000 a year and after ten year’s service they may be earning around £43,000.

Sir John said: “We may have to do something which recognises that the staff of the intelligence agencies, a bit like the police or the armed forces, do something that’s unique and those unique qualities should be recognised.”

Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the ISC, said: “The government needs to have more flexibility in its civil service pay policy, especially for unique sectors like the intelligence agencies.”

However, Nigel West, an espionage historian, said being in the secret services should not be about money.

In its latest drive to recruit people to MI5, the service’s director general Jonathan Evans has described how hunting down terrorists and foiling attacks can be “fun”.

Mr Evans appears in a promotional video for the agency to explain that working for MI5 is pressured but “exciting” and that it is like any “normal” employer.

He adds that it is far more transparent than it used to be and reveals how he had been employed for “several days” in 1980 before learning he was working for MI5.

The government only officially acknowledged MI5 existed in 1989.