FOREIGN Secretary David Miliband yesterday defended the next head of MI6 after details of his personal life were posted on social networking website Facebook.
Pictures and private details of Sir John Sawers, who will take on the post in November, were revealed on an easily accessible profile page of his wife, Lady Shelley Sawers.
The page was taken down after the Foreign Office was informed. The Liberal
Democrats called for an inquiry into the matter, while senior Tory MP Patrick Mercer said Sir John had left himself open to blackmail.
But Mr Miliband denied that national security had been compromised, saying it was "no state secret" that the MI6 chief wore Speedo trunks on holiday.
Shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said the UK's enemies "did not wholly rely on the Mail on Sunday (which published the details yesterday] and Facebook for their information".
Former prime minister Sir John Major also described the issue as "overblown".
Lady Sawers disclosed details including the location of the London flat used by the couple and the whereabouts of their children, and Sir John's parents.
She put no privacy protection on her account, allowing any of Facebook's 200 million users in the open-access "London" network to see the entries.
Lady Sawers' half-brother, Hugo Haig-Thomas, a former diplomat, was said to be among those featured in family photographs on Facebook.
Mr Haig-Thomas was an associate and researcher for historian David Irving, who was jailed for three years in Austria in 2006 after pleading guilty to Holocaust denial, it was reported.
Mr Miliband said: "It is not a state secret that he (Sir John] wears Speedo swimming trunks – for goodness' sake let's grow up."
He added: "He was appointed ten days ago to be the head of MI6; he's an outstanding professional who will do a really good job in an outstanding organisation that does a huge amount for this country."
Mr Clarke dismissed the potential security implications of the information, and said he was certain Britain's enemies would already have known the details.
"In the old days, we used to keep the name secret, all photographs were banned and I never really believed that the Russians didn't know who the head of MI6 and MI5 was," he said.
"I strongly suspect that serious enemies of this country will be quite familiar with some of the home life of the head of our security service and I very much doubt whether our national security has been jeopardised."
Sir John Major said: "It's pretty unfortunate that this has happened.
"But when you're faced with leaving Iraq possibly too early, huge problems in Afghanistan, the mess in Pakistan, the depth of the recession – I think this falls way below those."
The Liberal Democrats insisted that Gordon Brown should call an inquiry.
Foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey said: "Normally, I would welcome greater openness in government for officials or politicians but this type of exposure verges on the reckless.
"The Prime Minister should immediately commission an internal inquiry as to whether this has breached the security of the incoming head of MI6 too seriously to allow him to take up the post."
Mr Mercer, chairman of the counter-terrorism sub-committee, said that Sir John was in a "very sensitive position".
He said: "As a long-serving diplomat and ambassador, his whole family have been involved in his line of business for decades. I would have hoped they would have been much more sensitive to potential security compromises like this."
HOW HE COMPARES TO HIS TOP AGENTBOND, JAMES BONDBorn: 1953 (when created by writer Ian Fleming).
Career: Officer of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
Education: Fettes, Edinburgh.
Hobbies: Martinis, women, sportcars, killing baddies, avoiding blowing his cover on social networking sites.
Swimsuit rating: Ten out of ten – as portrayed by Daniel Craig, emerging from the ocean in Casino Royale.
SIR JOHN SAWERSBorn: Warwick, 1955.
Career: Diplomatic corps, soon to be new chief of MI6.
Education: City of Bath Boys' School, then read physics and philosophy at the University of Nottingham.
Hobbies: Keen tennis player and cyclist.
Swimsuit rating: No middle-aged spread, but wrinkly torso not going to send too many female hearts racing.
The full article contains 706 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
