A Conservative councillor who resigned after she was exposed as a former IRA gunrunner in the 1970s has said she regrets her decision to quit.

Maria Gatland, one of Croydon Council’s most high-profile cabinet members, handed in her notice after being exposed as the author of a “kiss and tell” book about the provisionals.

The book — To Take Arms: My Year With The IRA Provisional — which was written under her maiden name, McGuire, described how, among other tasks, she acted as an interpreter for the movement on an arms-buying trip to Europe. She fled to England in 1972. It is understood she was court martialled by the IRA in her absence and sentenced to death.

Ms Gatland became education chief at conservative-controlled Croydon Council, South London.

But a school governor hinted about her past at a meeting at the start of December and when full details emerged she quit.

In an interview with the Sunday Times Ms Gatland admitted that she later regretted her decision to step down. “I had resigned because I didn’t want to damage or embarrass colleagues and I wanted to do the right thing,” she said.

“Later I felt I should have done things differently. I should have told the council that I needed to talk to them. I should have shown them the book and explained the context.

“Yes, I had belonged to the Provisional IRA for a year. Yes, I had gone on an arms-buying trip to Holland. But then I quit and wrote the book to explain why I had become disillusioned with the IRA, and I took a huge risk in doing so.” Ms Gartland also pointed out that IRA membership hadn’t affected the political careers of the current Sinn Fein leadership.

“I should also have said: look at Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness,” she added. “If they could make such a profound political transition, surely I could too? Referring to council leader Mike Fisher’s reaction when she told him about her past, she said: “He told me he was withdrawing the Conservative whip and put me under pressure to resign as a councillor ‘because things could get very nasty’.”