I always remember the instruction at Cranwell, "You are not saluting the person but what they represent"
Quite right, which is why we were told never to thank the person initiating the salute - after all they are not saluting you - but instead to reply with a 'Good morning/afternoon/evening' etc. That said, if you apply the principle of saluting what a person represents, I'm suprised that said young lady at the bottom of the stairs wasn't on the phone to Crimestoppers or the Home Office / Justice Ministry to tell them we had just found one of their lost criminals.
I remember meeting John Reid when it was his turn to screw us over out in Basrah in 05. I was absolutely disgusted with myself when I addressed him as 'Sir'. Had to go and give myself a stiff talking to after that and remind myself never to do it again - after all he wasn't a senior officer or the recipient of a Knighthood. After that distasteful incident I vowed that I would make sure that I never saluted a politician or called them sir / ma'am unless they were at one stage commissioned and had more stripes than me or had a Knighthood.