‘There appears to have been some kind of coup at the heart of the Kremlin. It is incredibly unusual – not to say unheard-of – for such a senior official to offer himself to us. He’d bring with him a treasure trove of material on all aspects of their operations in the UK and everywhere else in the world. It was our judgement, and that of the foreign secretary, that it was an offer we had to explore.’

‘What does this fellow want?’

‘Asylum.’

‘So, do you want to explain to me how ITV has this story today and what it is about?’

‘The man in question, Igor Borodin, has been one of the most influential intelligence figures in Russia for the last decade or more. I have been dealing with his son. It was he who first approached me to explain what had happened in Moscow and to offer his father’s services in return for asylum for his immediate family.’

‘And?’ The PM still looked as if he was about to explode, puffing out his cheeks nervously.

‘Among other things, they said that you had been recruited into their service many years ago while you were serving as an army officer in Kosovo. The son, Mikhail, played me a video that purported to show you having sex with three underage girls.’

The PM looked as if he was ready to leap up from his seat and throttle her. ‘And you believed this disgusting codswallop?’ The special adviser had uncurled herself and sat upright on the sofa, the colour drained from her face.

‘The video was incredibly convincing. Now, it’s possible that it’s what we would call a “deep fake”. Because motion-capture technology and AI are so advanced, it’s possible, for example, to have a public figure say and do things that never actually happened. But there is no way of assessing that until we can get the video back into our labs to test it in the most thorough possible way.’

‘You’re talking, Mrs Henderson, as if I’m not here. Unless I’m mistaken, this grotesque fake is of me.’

She looked at him steadily. ‘I understand why you’re so upset and angry, Prime Minister—’

‘Angry? I’m bloody livid!’

‘I understand that. And, in your shoes, I would feel the same. I am merely trying to explain the reality of the situation we found ourselves in as dispassionately as I can.’

‘And you and your colleagues, in your wisdom, decided to take this seriously?’

‘There are many factors here. We could possibly have chosen to ignore the video—’

‘God’s blood, it’s not of me!’