Is spy chief Scarlett bulletproof?

Until last year, the only available photo of John McLeod Scarlett was a grainy image of a grim-faced man in a black fedora. The picture, snapped at Heathrow in 1994 after he was kicked out of Moscow in a tit-for-tat spy row, beautifully summed up the mystique of MI6 and its agents overseas.

But that air of mystery was shattered when Lord Hutton summoned him to explain his role as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in drafting the Government's dossier.

Not only did 56-year-old Mr Scarlett appear in public to give evidence, he was televised leaving his home and we learned that he was a "mate" of

Alastair Campbell with extraordinary influence across Government.

Due to take over next month as the next "C", the head of MI6, that public profile now lies at the centre of the problems for the most controversial spy chief in British history.

Ever since he was growing up in Southwark, John Scarlett's sharp brain has marked him out from the crowd even though he often wanted to remain anonymous.

While at Epsom College, he was appointed president of an organisation called the XVI Society for "particularly gifted boys".

Mr Scarlett, who is married with three daughters and a son, won a scholarship to read modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford. After gaining a first class degree, his career with MI6 or Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), as it is more formally known, started in 1971.

He made his name in the early Eighties, at the height of the Cold War. In one of the most secret and dangerous missions of his career, he was the main case officer for Oleg Gordievsky, the senior KGB officer working as a double agent for Britain while serving at the Soviet Embassy in Kensington.

Amid scenes worthy of the James Bond cliché¬ Mr Scarlett set up a safe house in a Bayswater flat to which the Russian brought secret documents smuggled out of the embassy during his lunch break.

Mr Gordievsky described the spy as "the most brilliant" of four case officers who handled him. As one of the others was Eliza Manningham-Buller, now Director General of MI5, that is some compliment.

When he was appointed chairman of the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee in 2001, only a week before the September 11 terrorist attacks, he had to retire from MI6. But he was the first JIC chairman to come from Britain's overseas spying network.

As JIC chairman, he built up a close relationship with Tony Blair and Downing Street aides such as Mr Campbell, impressing many with his grasp of the political as well as the intelligence nature of the secret services.

The Hutton Inquiry revealed how close he was to No10 as Mr Campbell was allowed to recommend changes to the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

As he gave evidence, observers were impressed with his cogent answers and extremely tough responses to any attempts to portray him as a

political pawn. In one memorable piece of evidence, it was Mr Scarlett who recommended a "security-style interview" for weapons expert David Kelly after he came forward to say he may have been the source of Andrew Gilligan's report

on the dossier. It came as a surprise to many when he was appointed to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove as head of SIS this year. Mr Blair insisted he was the best man for the job and was picked by an independent panel, but Sir Richard's deputy Nigel Inkster had been tipped by some to take the top job.

With friends in both Downing Street and the White House, Mr Scarlett may weather any storm produced by Lord Butler. The first publicly photographed "C" will certainly hope to fade back into the shadows, but it remains unclear whether he will ever be allowed to do so.