Knighthood Controversy
Scarlett's appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the Queen's New Years Honours List 2007 was criticised in the media by some who believe that certain honours have been given unfairly to officials and supporters loyal to the government during the 2003 war in Iraq. Scarlett, while Chairman of the JIC, was the principal author of the assessments on which the September Dossier was based, a document partly by which the Prime Minister justified to Parliament the invasion of Iraq and which was later found to be "flawed" by the Butler Review. However, despite the claims of preferential honours, the award of a KCMG is normal practice for all heads of SIS and senior FCO and British diplomats.
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“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)