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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Ambassador to become new MI6 boss | Ambassador to become new MI6 boss |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| Britain's ambassador to the United Nations is to become the new chief of MI6, Downing Street has announced. | Britain's ambassador to the United Nations is to become the new chief of MI6, Downing Street has announced. |
| Sir John Sawers, 52, will head the overseas Secret Intelligence Service in November, replacing Sir John Scarlett. | |
| The departing boss spent more than five years in the post, having switched from his role leading the Joint Intelligence Committee just before the Iraq war. | The departing boss spent more than five years in the post, having switched from his role leading the Joint Intelligence Committee just before the Iraq war. |
| Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said the departing Sir John had done "an important and valuable job". | Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said the departing Sir John had done "an important and valuable job". |
| 'Open MI6' | |
| He had made a real contribution to protecting Britain from international terrorism and other global threats, the spokesman added. | He had made a real contribution to protecting Britain from international terrorism and other global threats, the spokesman added. |
| He also said Sir John Scarlett's move was in no way connected to the impending inquiry into the Iraq war, at which he is likely to be a key witness. | He also said Sir John Scarlett's move was in no way connected to the impending inquiry into the Iraq war, at which he is likely to be a key witness. |
| BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner says the appointment is a sign of how far MI6 has come into the open. | |
| He said Sir John Sawers was a highly recognisable figure and a career diplomat, unlike the incumbent Sir John Scarlett who played a key role in espionage against the Soviets. | |
| The incoming boss has been Britain's Permanent Representative to the UN since 2007. | |
| Before that, he was political director at the Foreign Office, an envoy in Baghdad and also a foreign affairs adviser to ex-prime minister Tony Blair. | |
| In the latter post from 1999 to 2001 he was involved in the Kosovo conflict and Northern Ireland peace process. | |
| Elsewhere overseas, he worked in the British Embassy in Washington, as an ambassador to Cairo and in South Africa from 1988 and 1991 as apartheid was ending. | |
| Downing Street also said Sir John was re-joining the intelligence services but would not give any further details. | |
| The new boss is married to teacher Shelley and has three grown-up children. | |
| His replacement as UN ambassador has yet to be announced. |