LONDON - The credibility of Britain's new chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir John Sawers, is being questioned after his wife published family holiday photographs and other personal details on Facebook.

Currently Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Sir John will take up his post as MI6 head, in charge of Britain's spying operations abroad, in November.

But his wife Shelley Sawers's 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.

Senior politicians said the security lapse raised serious doubts about Sir John's suitability to head the intelligence service, and raised questions over whether an outsider should have been appointed to such a sensitive role, The Telegraph reports.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesman, called on Gordon Brown to launch an inquiry into whether the Facebook disclosures had compromised Sir John's ability to take up his MI6 post.

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.

Shelley posted photographs of the family's holidays and gave details of the location of the family's flat in London and the whereabouts of their three children and of Sir John's parents.

On June 16, the day Sir John's MI6 appointment was announced, she posted 19 pictures of the couple on holiday with their friends in the West Country earlier that month.

The lapse revealed the couple's friendship with senior diplomats and actors.

Among those who joined the Sawers on a break were the actors Moir Leslie and Alister Cameron. Shelley also revealed that the intelligence chief's brother-in-law is an associate of David Irving, the controversial Right-wing historian.

The material was wiped from the site after the newspaper alerted the Foreign Office to the extraordinary lapse. (ANI)