Downing Street Says » John Scarlett

The PMOS informed journalists that the Foreign Secretary was confirming today the appointment of John Scarlett as the next Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). The appointment had been made by the Foreign Secretary on the basis of a recommendation from a selection panel, following Civil Service Commission practice. The panel was chaired by the Security Intelligence Co-ordinator, Sir David Omand. Jack Straw said, “John Scarlett has the operational background, personal qualities and wide experience to be a worthy successor to Richard Dearlove”.

Asked for a reaction to concerns that Mr Scarlett was ‘too close to Downing Street’ inasmuch as he would be too willing to do No 10’s bidding, the PMOS said that the appointment had been made using the usual procedures. It had been based entirely on merit on the recommendation of a panel chaired by Sir David Omand. The procedure used in this instance was the same as the one which had been followed for the appointment of Eliza Manningham-Buller, Director General of MI5, and David Pepper, Director of GCHQ. It was also the same process used for the appointment of Permanent Secretaries. Put to him that it was usual procedure for the serving deputy to be appointed Chief, the PMOS said that it was not for him to comment on such matters. He repeated that the appointment had been based entirely on merit on the recommendation of a panel chaired by Sir David Omand. Put to him again that it was usual procedure for the deputy to the Chief of the SIS to take over when the Chief retired, the PMOS said that the usual procedure was to follow Civil Service Commission practice and make an appointment based on a recommendation from a selection panel. The same process had been used to appoint Eliza Manningham-Buller and David Pepper.

In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that it was normal procedure for the Foreign Secretary to make the appointment under Section 2(1) of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 on the basis of recommendations from a selection panel following Civil Service Commission practice. In this case, the panel had been chaired by Sir David Omand. Under this procedure, the Prime Minister was consulted at the end of the process. Asked if previous SIS Chiefs had been appointed under this process, the PMOS said that it was up the SIS to brief on previous appointments. He underlined that the process which had been used to appoint Mr Scarlett was the same as that used for all Permanent Secretary-level appointments. Asked for how long this process had been in use, the PMOS referred journalists to the Cabinet Office for further detail. Asked if people had been asked to apply for the job or if it had been advertised, the PMOS said that he had no intention of getting drawn into a detailed discussion of the process. Asked if there had been any other candidates for the job, apart from John Scarlett, the PMOS repeated that the appointment had been made on the recommendation of the selection panel. Asked who else had sat on the panel, apart from Sir David Omand, the PMOS said that it wasn’t our policy to provide details of Civil Service Commission practice.

1 Comment »

So – that’s nice and transparent isn’t it. We can all sleep safely in our beds tonight.
Comment by Red Robbo — 6 May 2004 on 5:36 pm | Link

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» Thursday, May 6, 2004

John Scarlett

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