London, January 29 (RHC)-- The head of British spy agency, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has been relieved from his job. A Foreign Office spokesman said on Tuesday that Iain Lobban will step down at the end of the year after serving six years in one of the most sensitive jobs in Whitehall.

London calls the departure a long planned move and has rejected speculations that it is linked to recent controversy relating to the leak of classified documents by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, involving the GCHQ and its U.S. counterpart the National Security Agency (NSA).

In November, Lobban along with the heads of MI5 and MI6, made a rare public appearance before a parliamentary committee. This came after Snowden disclosed that British and U.S. spy agencies had been intruding into the private communications of millions of ordinary citizens.