Relationships based, it seemed, on carefully concealed bribery. The evidence thin to non-existent, of course. A rare picture of his being helped to leave a banquet all that Mickey could find on the internet. Clearly heavily intoxicated, plum wine copiously spilled down his Jermyn Street shirt. But nothing more salacious proven, despite the rumours. Expensive escorts, luxurious gifts, outright bribery. All behind closed doors. All deniable. And boys will be boys. With no wife to spill the beans, on finding herself scorned.

He’d been knighted in 2004 for his prodigious and carefully targeted UK charitable giving. Not to mention a significant backhander to the ruling party. And then, counter-intuitively, he’d decided to try his hand at politics. Perhaps reasoning that what had made him rich could also make him powerful. Put his business empire into a blind trust and joined the Tories. Handily, just in time to participate in their predictable resurgence at the fag end of Labour rule. Had served as a backbencher for a few years. A test of the Johnny-come-lately’s stickability. Proving himself loyal. And, critically, always on message when called on to defend a difficult policy. More than capable of putting a hostile interviewer on the back foot. Adroit, even. Which had resulted in him starting his ascent of the slippery pole of power. Displaying all the skills of a veteran.

First step: junior minister. Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, naturally enough. His innate understanding of deal-making and relationships with China making him a stellar performer. Promotion to Under-Secretary had followed. Sutherland working hard to champion the cause of globalisation in general. And China in particular. Both in his day job and after hours. Hosting dinner parties with powerful attendees from the Middle Kingdom. Who let it be known that they were looking for influential people to join their think tanks and lobbying efforts. Quickly gathering a roll call of recently retired senior UK politicians and academics to their cause. Their other main choice for lucrative sinecures being to break bread with the unspeakable lizard men who controlled social media. No choice at all, it seemed.

Sutherland was by that point no longer any sort of outsider. Welcome in all the right places and by all the right people. And eased back into the old boy’s association fold by his former regiment with suspiciously astute timing. A new PM leading to a new challenge. One suited to a man with military experience. Catapulted into the cabinet, he’d taken the helm at the MOD. A move some observers found interesting, given his close links to the biggest long-term threat to the UK. Their sniping from the pages of the broadsheet press ignored by the establishment. And beneath his dignity as a patriotic citizen to even comment on.