Lucrative: Sir John Scarlett became an adviser to six firms

The former spymaster accused of helping Tony Blair to 'sex up' the case for invading Iraq is now cashing in, it emerged yesterday.

Sir John Scarlett is following in his former boss's money-making footsteps with a series of lucrative posts in the private sector.

His ownership of two private companies – including one co-owned with former terrorism legislation reviewer Lord Carlile – as well as consultancy roles with six global firms are likely to reap payments topping £1million a year.

Sir John was head of the Joint Intelligence Committee when the 'dodgy dossier' about weapons of mass destruction made its notorious claim that we were '45 minutes from doom' in September 2002.

Critics say he let Blair's spin-doctor Alastair Campbell pressure him into 'sexing up' the document to enable the prime minister to launch the devastating war.

Sir John is expected to be heavily criticised when the much-delayed Chilcot Inquiry finally reports.

Last night relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq expressed their outrage as details emerged of his exploits since leaving public service. Elsie Manning, 73, who today marks the anniversary of her 34-year-old daughter Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott's death in Iraq in 2006, said: 'You get the impression that all some people can think about is money, money, money.

'It makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that people like Sir John Scarlett can get away with making so much money just beggars belief.'

After Sir John left the Joint Intelligence Committee in 2004, a year after the invasion of Iraq, Blair promoted him to 'C' – the head of MI6 – which many saw as a reward for providing 'evidence' to justify the war. And within weeks of leaving MI6 in October 2009, Sir John took up his first lucrative post in the private sector.

He had to clear his new roles with the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) – a watchdog set up to tackle the 'revolving door' between government service and the private sector. Acoba did not block any of his applications. In January 2010, he joined the advisory board of accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers. The same month, he became a paid adviser to Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company.

The former spymaster accused of helping Tony Blair to 'sex up' the case for invading Iraq is now cashing in. Pictured, Tony and Cherie Blair arrive in Downing Street ahead of the Remembrance Sunday service

Two months later, he took a lucrative position as senior adviser to US investment bank Morgan Stanley. In April last year, he spent three days at the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel in Hawaii with a hundred of the bank's top performing brokers.

Sir John also joined the board of global intelligence firm The Chertoff Group, run by former US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in April 2010. Acoba approved this job on condition that he must not lobby the UK Government for a year.

SPY CHIEF'S NICE LITTLE EARNERS... October 2009: Leaves as head of MI6 January 2010: Joins advisory boards of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Swiss Re, a reinsurance firm; sets up company with wife Gwenda, J&G Consulting Ltd February 2010: Becomes consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers March 2010: Made senior adviser, Morgan Stanley UK April 2010: Joins advisory board, Chertoff Group December 2010: Joins board of directors, Times Newspaper Holdings Ltd February 2011: Becomes member of strategic advisory council for multinational oil company Statoil October 2012: Sets up company SC Strategy Ltd with Lord Carlile Advertisement

In December 2010, Acoba approved a position on the board of Times Newspapers, which publishes the Times and the Sunday Times. And in February 2011, Sir John accepted consultancy job number six – as an adviser to the multinational oil company Statoil. This time, Acoba approved the role unconditionally.

Speaking to the Independent, which uncovered the details of Sir John's ventures, a former MI6 official said: 'After 9/11 there was an intelligence free-for-all in the United States. The division between state and commercial security got shot to hell.'

PwC said he was no longer an adviser. None of the companies would discuss the money they paid him. Sir John also runs a private company, J&G Consulting Ltd, with his wife Gwenda, which had cash assets of £89,573 in 2012, according to Companies House records. These had swelled to £683,625 the following year.

He has also shared £800,000 from another consultancy, SC Strategy, which he co-owns with Lord Carlile. The firm has lucrative dealings with the oil-rich government of Qatar, with whom Mr Blair also enjoys close links. Next month Sir John will address a conference in Qatar at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

There is no suggestion that Sir John has done anything illegal. A request for comment was unanswered last night.

Peer who knows Britain's terror secrets now advises private clients

By Neil Sears for the Daily Mail

Access: Lord Carlile

As the official 'independent reviewer of terrorism legislation', Lord Carlile had astonishing access to Britain's secret state.

The barrister peer, a former MP and leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, was appointed on the morning of September 11, 2001 – and within hours, Al Qaeda's attack on the Twin Towers in New York made the British Government's reaction to terrorism a central issue of our time.

For the ensuing nine years, when he was not being paid as a Queen's Counsel, or working as a High Court judge, he was regularly paid a generous daily rate by the Home Office to cast his 'independent' eye over our war on terror.

Lord Carlile, 67, a divorced father of three, left his 'reviewer' role four years ago, but was soon putting his expertise to lucrative new use by going into the international consultancy business with former MI6 chief Sir John Scarlett.

According to Lord Carlile's profile on the website of his barristers' chambers in Central London: 'He has extensive knowledge of the operation of government and Parliament… He is a Director of SC Strategy Ltd, a boutique consultancy providing international strategic advice to governments, companies and individuals.'

Thanks to the 'extensive knowledge' of Lord Carlile and Sir John, even though their 'boutique consultancy' appears to be only a sideline for both of them it has been making them each £200,000 a year. The only known client is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.Cabinet Office records reveal the firm twice last year held private meetings with Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood.

Exactly what Lord Carlile and Sir John tell their mystery clients is undisclosed. But when operating in his 'independent reviewer' role the peer garnered a wealth of information about the secret services. His successor, David Anderson QC, has revealed that the job involves 'the perusal of secret material and interviews with key personnel ranging from senior judges, intelligence chief and police officers to people arrested on suspicion of terrorism'.