The new "C" is to be John Scarlett - the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee who was thrust into the public eye during last year's Hutton Inquiry.
Lord Hutton acquitted him of any wrong doing in the drafting of the dossier on weapons of mass destruction, but the suspicion that he was too close to his political masters has remained.
This evening the Prime Minister defended the appointment, emphasising that it was made by an independent panel.
Never has a spy chief been so public, nor so controversial. John Scarlet was cleared of any improper behaviour by Lord Hutton's inquiry, but the evidence from the inquiry's public evidence sessions left many thinking that he had betrayed MI6 by twisting its intelligence to make the government's case for war in the controversial dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The Prime Minister's decision to appoint Mr Scarlett as "C" - MI6 chief - brought an outcry from former chairmen of the joint intelligence committee.
One said Mr Blair's appointment displayed "political ineptitude" and showed the Prime Minister had developed a walking on water complex.
Another said John Scarlett’s appointment would be bad for the security service, it was a silly decision and the Prime Minister wasn't living in the real world.
The outcry is all about John Scarlett’s own term as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
The JIC Chairman traditionally filters intelligence reports to give the Prime Minister a balanced view of threats to the nation.
But once John Scarlet was put in charge of the project to publish intelligence on Iraq's weapons, some felt he accepted too many drafting changes from Number 10 staff and strengthened possibilities into certainties when the intelligence didn't support it.
The man who takes over at MI6 in a few weeks time was also accused at the Hutton inquiry of not being frank with parliamentary committees, of not correcting reports that Iraq had long-range chemical weaponry, when he knew the at worst they had smaller range battlefield weaponry.
And there was astonishment across Whitehall at the way Mr Scarlett had thrown himself into much broader work for his political masters.
The Hutton inquiry revealed that Mr Scarlett conducted his own research to see if the Government scientist David Kelly was the source for allegations that the Government's dossier stretched intelligence.
Mr Scarlett helped out with a Ministry of Defence press releases at the height of the crisis over David Kelly, and even advised the Prime Minister on what David Kelly might say if he were to be called as a witness before a parliamentary committee.
One former Joint Intelligence Chairman said John Scarlett had been sucked into the magic circle.
Opposition parties broke all convention to pass comment on the new MI6 boss.
The Conservatives said with the Butler inquiry still to report on what went wrong with intelligence on Iraq, today's appointment should not have been made.
The Government said Mr Scarlett had been appointed by an independent commission of senior Government officials.
The Foreign Secretary had then accepted their recommendation, the Prime Minister himself simply formally approved the choice.
But two members of the selection panel were themselves closely involved in the discussions about David Kelly and were themselves witnesses to the Hutton inquiry.
Sir David Omand - the Prime Minister's adviser on security - chaired the panel; and the Ministry of Defence Permanent Secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit sat on the panel.
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