UK spy chief’s life posted on Facebook by wife

The credibility of Britain’s new chief of the secret intelligence service, John Sawers, is being questioned after his wife published family holiday photographs and other personal details on Facebook.

Currently Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Sawers will take up his post as MI6 head, in charge of Britain’s spying operations abroad, in November.But his wife Shelley Sawers’ posting on the social networking site has breached secrecy, by exposing about where they live and work, their friends and where they go on holiday. Shelley put no privacy protection on the account, meaning that any of Facebook’s 200 million users in the ‘London’ network could see the entries.

Senior politicians said the security lapse raised serious doubts about Sawers’ suitability to head the intelligence service. The lapse revealed the couple’s friendship with senior diplomats and actors. The material was wiped from the site after the newspaper alerted the foreign office to the extraordinary lapse.