"He may be a bastard, but he's our bastard."
Parliamentary lobbyist Damian Beaufort is a professional manipulator - clever, charming, ruthless - but when Labour wins power his Tory-heavy agency spirals towards bankruptcy. And the rest of his life looks like going the same way.
Salvation comes not from booze or sex - despite his best efforts - but a far less likely quarter: the UK's Secret Intelligence Service. It also comes at a cost.
Beaufort finds himself entangled in a lethal web of conflicts: an internecine turf war between MI5 and MI6; underhand Westminster manoeuvrings; Eurocrats bent on reversing Brexit; and, seemingly pulling all the strings, the sinister head of Russia's FSB.
Beaufort's estranged mother, one of the world's most glamorous and popular actresses, has one secret she withholds from everyone - especially her son. The identity of his father.
Soon the lobbyist-turned-spy isn't just fighting to save his agency, his reputation and his country. He's fighting for his life, and he's fighting for revenge.
First-time author Lionel Zetter brings dazzling insider knowledge to bear in this fast-moving contemporary thriller with a totally unexpected denouement in the Chamber of the House of Commons.
Autorentext
Lionel Zetter has been involved in politics and lobbying for more than forty years. As the son of a diplomat, his childhood was spent travelling the world. He read History and then Strategic Studies at Sussex University, where, like many before and since, he was approached to join MI6. Lionel has been a special adviser and a policy fellow at the Cabinet Office. His political life has included being an election agent and an elected local councillor. As a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 general election he fought Edmonton, but Edmonton fought back...He has won multiple professional awards and has headed up three communications industry trade bodies and given evidence to various government committees. He has written books on political campaigning and lobbying. He is a martial artist, and a failed restaurateur. Lionel is married with three children and lives in north London. The Lobbyist is his first novel.