A fake advert for a would-be James Bond with a licence to kill on behalf of the Government left civil servants shaken and stirred when it was posted on an official Government website.

The fake £60,000-per-year post calling for "particularly skilled professionals" was posted yesterday on the Department for Work and Pensions' Directgov.co.uk website on behalf of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6.

It said that the Government had, from time to time, "a need to remove people whose continued existence poses a risk to the effective conduct of public order".

james bond
A fake advert for a would-be James Bond with a licence to kill on behalf of the Government left civil servants shaken and stirred

But the DWP said today it had removed the advert, which had a job reference code of "007".

A spokeswoman confirmed that no professional killer was being sought for employment by MI6 via the website.

"It is disappointing that somebody would want to post a false advert when people are looking for real jobs," she said.

"It has now been removed."

She declined to say how the advert got onto the site, but said external employers were able to post job adverts on it.

The advert read: ""From time to time the UK government has a need to remove people whose continued existence poses a risk to the effective conduct of public order.

"So we require particularly skilled professionals who are prepared to work on a non-attributable basis to deal with these problems.

"The ideal candidate will need to have no particular distinguishing features so as to blend in and be able to take on new identities as required.

"They will need to be resourceful in finding ways to accomplish their missions and, in some cases, to leave foreign countries by non-conventional means.

"The role would suit candidates with prior military experience, particularly in the use of sniper rifles."

In a firm homage to the super-spy, it added that the successful candidate would receive all necessary equipment, including special watches, jetpacks, mini-submarines and Bond's signature gun, the Walther PPK.

It added that the job would be "appropriate for those who like their martinis shaken and not stirred".

It told would-be secret agents to express their interest "somewhere in the vicinity of the large and rather fake-looking rock in Regent's Park".

DirectGov is due to be replaced by the Gov.uk website, which went live in October and which will also eventually include all government departments as part of a streamlining by the Government that aims to save taxpayers up to £70 million.