Intelligence

Scarlett named head of MI6

Scarlett named head of MI6

LONDON (Reuters) - The government has named John Scarlett as the new head of MI6, raising eyebrows because of his involvement in a dossier on Iraq's weapons that sparked a political storm last year.
Scarlett, who has spent his career in the secret intelligence service, will take over from Sir Richard Dearlove to head the agency that deals with overseas intelligence -- a crucial plank in the "war on terror".

Thursday May 6, 12:55 PM
The government has named John Scarlett as the new head of its MI6 spy agency, raising eyebrows given his previous involvement in a dossier on Iraq's weapons that sparked a political storm last year. Scarlett is shown in this Reuters file photo. REUTERS/Stephen Hird

The Conservative Party immediately called his appointment "inappropriate".

As the chairman of the government's Joint Intelligence Committee, Scarlett was responsible for the pre-war dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction that helped Prime Minister Tony Blair garner political and public support for the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Some critics say Scarlett got too close to government. Blair's former press chief Alastair Campbell called him his "mate".

But Blair stressed that Scarlett had been put forward by an independent panel over which he had no influence.

"He is someone who is a fine public servant, who has served Conservative and Labour governments for many, many years," he told a news conference.

"I think it's unfortunate that it gets embroiled in party politics, or that people try to make political capital out of it."

The dossier triggered one of the most perilous periods of Blair's premiership following a BBC report that alleged the government, and particularly Campbell, had hyped the threat from Iraq to justify war.

Scientist David Kelly committed suicide last summer after being named as the BBC's source. Judge Lord Hutton's inquiry into Kelly's death opened up the workings of government and the dossier's compilation process to unprecedented scrutiny.

Scarlett and Dearlove both gave evidence to Hutton.

Hutton exonerated Blair's government of any major wrongdoing in the Kelly affair but large parts of the media and opposition politicians slammed his report as a whitewash.

Still under pressure over the failure to find Iraq's banned weapons, Blair launched a fresh inquiry in February into the quality of British intelligence on Iraq.

The inquiry's chairman Lord Butler is expected to report by July but opposition parties have boycotted the probe, saying its terms are so narrow it will let the government off the hook.

"Given that John Scarlett is central to that (Butler) review, and that the inquiry has not yet reported, I believe that this appointment, at this time, is inappropriate," said Conservative foreign affairs spokesman Michael Ancram.

Scarlett's appointment breaks with precedent, which suggested the post would go to Dearlove's deputy.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Scarlett had "the operational background, personal qualities and wide experience" to succeed Dearlove, who will become master of a Cambridge University college.

May 6, 2004 at 12:22 PM in MI6 | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home