‘We’re still watching him, but I’d be lying if I said we had anything concrete.’

She was grateful for his honesty, something that seemed to be in increasingly short supply. ‘I thought you were putting someone inside his camp.’

He sighed. ‘Well, that’s proved more difficult than we expected. Our man didn’t exactly take the bait. And now I’ve just heard he’s buggered off to America. Woolf made a total dog’s breakfast of trying to recruit him. It seems they all underestimated him. On the other hand, his attitude makes him perfect for the job, since there’s no way Rolt would suspect him. I think we just have to play a slightly longer game.’

‘There isn’t time for a longer game. Rolt’s becoming a power to be reckoned with. It’s time you started joining up some dots, Stephen.’

She could hear the strain in his voice. She knew that sceptics in the Service were arguing – with some justification – that they were on a fishing expedition where Rolt was concerned. She had some sympathy for Mandler, being pulled as he was in different directions, but she could see the fight going out of him and it wasn’t an edifying sight.

‘This wretched hysteria about returnees isn’t helping. Pulling people off the streets with virtually nothing to go on, other than that they spent a bit of time in Syria, is just inflaming an already combustible situation. There aren’t the resources for much else.’

‘Well, give it another week,’ she had told him, ‘but don’t let Rolt go off your radar. I don’t have a good feeling about him.’

Watching Clements’s body language, it was clear that, as far as he was concerned, Rolt was the most important person in the room – after himself, of course. The cabinet secretary was positively fawning over him. She looked round at the young Muslim, Derek Farmer’s new find. He had a Bosnian name, but scrubbed up well as a Party man, the acceptable face of young Islam. What was he making of all this? She watched him as Rolt spoke.

‘All I’ve really said is that there are limits to tolerance if we are under siege from people who have different beliefs, many of which are entirely obnoxious to the vast majority of us. And may I add I’ve had numerous messages of support from a wide range of faiths and communities.’

‘Would you like to come in here, Sahim?’ Clements pronounced his name Saaheeem. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, for those who haven’t yet met him, Mr Kovacevic is doing sterling work waving the flag for the moderate Muslim. Our secret weapon, if you like.’