Range of Bond villains briefly united with M (8)

I believe the answer is:

spectrum

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'range' is the definition.
(a spectrum is a range or variety)

I can't explain the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for spectrum that I've seen before include "Full range of colour" , "All the colours of 17 across" , "The bands of colur as seen in rainbow" , "Band of refracted colours" , "An entire range of related qualities of crumpets" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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