Ep5 | Plausible Deniability

5:54Master Vaner:Are you playing the SIS? Like, stringing this offer along for any reason?

6:00Alex Kernoway:Am I playing the secret intelligence service?

6:03Master Vaner:Yeah. Are you?

6:06Alex Kernoway:Sorry, what?

6:08Master Vaner:You worked your way up, hit your prime, got the temporary role. you're not even trying for the permanent they offered it and nothing I just can't compute that

6:23Alex Kernoway:um right these really are personal questions um do you have kids no thank you right um well Both my husband and I have very demanding jobs And our youngest is sort of Well, it doesn't matter

6:43Master Vaner:So I'd heard that But James Murray is a history professor Am I right in that?

6:49Alex Kernoway:My husband is the CEO of England Heritage Okay

6:52Master Vaner:Let's call that a demanding job if you want Yeah But you You are acting director of MI6 That ain't a job, Mel That's an office of state, yeah? That's the pressure point of our national security

7:13Alex Kernoway:Anything else, Addy? Yeah Come on then, I'm all ears

7:19Master Vaner:Who's Tiberius?

7:24Master Vaner:Look at you, thinking

7:26Alex Kernoway:Do you want me to answer or not?

7:29Master Vaner:I've got this little triumvirate that ain't making a lot of sense to me right now

7:34Alex Kernoway:Okay, who's that?

7:36Master Vaner:Sir Pilgrim Moore Alex Kernaway And you And me? Everyone in it got some suspicious shit going on And I'm missing a 20 million quid asset So who's Tiberius?

7:51Alex Kernoway:That's a code name, I assume

7:54Master Vaner:You tell me Always a good sign when the intelligence chief shrugs Great, outstanding effort

8:01Alex Kernoway:Well, I don't know what you're talking about Addy and I don't think you do either. Kernaway, friend of yours. Sir Pilgrim, friend of his.

8:14Master Vaner:Who's Tiberius?

8:17Alex Kernoway:I am not familiar with Tiberius. Thank you for drawing my attention to it. I can dig, alright? Is that acceptable?

8:28Master Vaner:Mel, you've got a decent record. I spoke to a couple of people about you. Not a bad word, right?

8:34Alex Kernoway:You know you can't fire me, yeah? Someone explained how our country works to you, yeah? I know.

8:39Master Vaner:I can't fire you. I know that.

8:43Alex Kernoway:Okay, great. Can I get back to shopping with my kids now?

8:46Master Vaner:But if you need to take an oath and have a fucking camera in your face in a courtroom to tell me the truth, then that's a bad reflection of your character.

8:54Alex Kernoway:Sorry, can you get out my face, please? What the fuck is wrong with you?

8:57Master Vaner:You're Kurnoway's friend.

8:58Alex Kernoway:Oh, but it's illegal to be friends with Alex Kurnoway under Miriam Brann, is it?

9:02Master Vaner:Something up for Belgrave Square. Plane goes down. Alma gets set up and shady shit starts happening. And now I've got loose ends.

9:10Alex Kernoway:Oh, ask your mates in Russia how the plane went down. It's about that, innit? Ask them, Addy.

9:15Master Vaner:It's that same shit.

9:16Alex Kernoway:What, truth? Yeah, fucking annoying how stubborn that can be, innit? Fucking treacherous bitch. You fuck off, you fucking gym rat yob. I can't believe she put you in that place. You should be the fucking apprentice. If that, Addy. If that.

9:35Alex Kernoway:I'm alright, love. I'm alright. Shoes. Shoes, shoes, shoes. Come on. Yes?

9:48Hughesy:Chancellor for you.

9:50Mel Murray:Yeah. Send him in.

9:55Prime Minister.

9:57Addie Azikiwe:Morning, Hugh. Everything alright?

9:58Mel Murray:I just got off the phone with the premier of the Cayman Islands. Ah, prickly customer. We have potentially sensitive financial exposure. On Grand Cayman? A, uh, this corporate entity. Alma. Alma Limited. Registered on Grand Cayman. Director Pilgrim Moore. That directorship ceased a little over a fortnight ago.

10:27Addie Azikiwe:He discontinued as director?

10:30Mel Murray:He died Understood The Premier of our much beloved autonomous overseas territory Will not disclose the beneficial owner of Alma

10:41Addie Azikiwe:Okay

10:42Mel Murray:What does that mean, Hugh?

10:47Addie Azikiwe:The beneficial owner So the legal owner is the name on the paperwork The nominee director Pilgrim Moore Yeah So then the beneficial owner is the person behind the structure of said company. Ultimately, they control more than a specified percentage of shares.

11:04Mel Murray:And this person receives the economic benefit of Alma and its holdings.

11:10Addie Azikiwe:Indeed.

11:12Mel Murray:Look at this.

11:15Addie Azikiwe:Alma Limited. More is the discontinued director due to the death. He set the company up. Okay, he set the company up, he restructured it, and he authorised the installation of a beneficiary owner. It was then a rather typical corporate framework. It seems to be owned by Cayman Islands Holding Company and a discretionary trust. The trustee is Island Fiduciaries Limited. Beneficiaries equals one private individual unlisted. You can ask

11:54Mel Murray:I have asked The Governor?

11:56Addie Azikiwe:He's UK appointed, unlike the Premier Yes, he won't supply it Why not?

12:02Mel Murray:Prickly Premier said so But also, I mean Because he doesn't have to, Hugh Or does he?

12:11Addie Azikiwe:He doesn't, no But if the UK stated that it was a tax issue No

12:17Mel Murray:We don't have that kind of time Tax investigations take months and years.

12:24Mel Murray:If you could enlighten me on the context of Halma. Understanding its operations and finding out the identity of its beneficiary is paramount to a key strategic partnership in our growth plans and our trade plans. And it, I feel, due to the nature of that strategic partner, it is paramount to national security.

12:53Addie Azikiwe:Paramount?

12:55Mel Murray:Paramount.

12:57Addie Azikiwe:Well then, Prime Minister, the Treasury can only advise in areas of monetary exposure. But if this is national security... Security? Yeah.

13:08Mel Murray:Yes. This is just a sensitive issue. Thanks, Hugh. No problem. You're coming to Budapest, aren't you?

13:19Addie Azikiwe:Absolutely, Prime Minister. Very exciting meetings arranged with both the US and Russia. Looking forward to it. Yep.

13:43Go on then!

13:45Addie Azikiwe:Go on girl!

13:47Alex Kernoway:Look at that! Quicker than she looks. Yeah. To the untrained eye, it looks like being unemployed made you get a dog.

13:57Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Luna's not mine. She's Sam's.

14:01Alex Kernoway:Yes, I know that. I'm just saying to these people glancing at you.

14:07Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Hmm, doesn't do much for my loner divorcee image. When it's been 15 years since your divorce, you stop being a loner divorcee and become just a loner. Don't remember you speaking to me like that when I was PM.

14:22Alex Kernoway:And you weren't listening closely.

14:26Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Since Eloise died, I've probably had Luna twice a week. I feel bad getting a dog of my own now. I feel like...

14:34Alex Kernoway:You're cheating on a dog? Yeah. How's Sam doing?

14:41Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Bad, actually. Yeah, bad. Wish I could say otherwise.

14:48Alex Kernoway:You said he was doing okay. He was, but I think when you lose someone in that way, you run on adrenaline for so long. Yeah.

15:03Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:And now that's all kind of drained out of him. Months on from it all, all he's got is, well, the reality of what he's now faced with.

15:15Alex Kernoway:Grace, back at school?

15:17Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Yeah, best thing, I think. School's been really good, apparently, so... Speaking of employment...

15:28Alex Kernoway:Not yet.

15:30Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:They'll take the offer away. I know, but they offered to me, what, last year?

15:35Alex Kernoway:August. What have we had since then? BA236, Majuro, Kamene. We live in an age of regime decapitation on a fucking whim. And still it's, so are you going to take the job? And I just think, how can you not see the world has changed? I talk about changing the system, rebooting how we do things. All I get is blank stares. So am I going to take an old post for a new world. No. No, I'm not. I'm just not.

16:09Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:You might not make sense to them, but you make sense to me.

16:15Alex Kernoway:Thanks.

16:19Alex Kernoway:Oh, I forgot to say I had Adi Azakiwi approach me the other day.

16:25Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Christ, no thanks.

16:27Alex Kernoway:Yeah, and he was asking about Tiberius.

16:35Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Tiberius?

16:38Alex Kernoway:I asked around and couldn't find anything on that. But there is a concerted effort in the agency to look into Pilgrim.

16:52Not totally

16:53Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:surprised by that, to be honest.

16:55Alex Kernoway:Go on, Luna! Why do you say that?

16:59Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Just think he couldn't accept losing.

17:04Alex Kernoway:Losing to what? The Branites? No.

17:07Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Cancer.

17:09Alex Kernoway:Right.

17:11Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Think he wanted to go down swinging. Dunno. Go on! You okay? Not to

17:22Alex Kernoway:make this too personal a point, but I'm one of your oldest friends. Yeah. Why didn't you tell me about Alma? Why didn't you tell me about 32 Belgrave Square? Do you know how this looks? Taking the cream off the top of a sanctions bill? That is so... What? Am I wrong? You're smiling, but they're digging into this, mate.

17:49Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:It's not true, Mel. It's not true.

17:52Alex Kernoway:Then what is it, Alex? Because it's either that or it's something else. Because it's not nothing. It's not bloody nothing.

17:59Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:32 Belgrave Square was owned by Prutsev. Who was killed? Killed by the regime, yes. Which seized the house before that anyway. But after BA-236 went down, I wanted to... exact some kind of... something. You know? You were there. Super sanctions bill gave me power to do stuff. Our strategic allies didn't back me up, obviously. So I set out, hiding assets that I thought might be returned to Russia under the new government. So?

18:30Alex Kernoway:So what? It's tied up in an offshore.

18:36Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:That's all.

18:38Alex Kernoway:That's all?

18:39Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Looks petty, but... I had grand plans in second term to lock bloody all of it up, throw away the key, take the issue off the table. But... Democracy put a stop to that before I could really get going on a few other properties. Had a few circled on Bishop's Avenue, but... Yeah. Hey-ho. Pilgrim just helped. Said he had nothing to lose.

19:09Alex Kernoway:Come on, off you! You were there, Alex.

19:15Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:I was where?

19:17Alex Kernoway:On election night. I even spoke to you, like, 30 minutes before you were spotted. Spotted? Spotted? It's not funny, Alex. It's not funny.

19:27Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:I went to say goodbye.

19:30Alex Kernoway:Goodbye?

19:30Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:To Pilgrim. He was in there, half pissed. He wanted one more drink.

19:37Alex Kernoway:He didn't die for another three and a half months. I wasn't to know that.

19:41Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:I went away for three weeks after I got kicked out. I had the foundation thing in Thailand after that. I didn't know when I was coming home. I wanted to say goodbye to my friend. Look, I mean, yeah, totally. How the sneaky old bastard got the keys, I have no idea. No idea. But, you know, he got one last win over the Russians with that house. What he would have wanted. No matter how small. Go on! Alright? Yeah. No bloody idea who Tiberius is. But I didn't even know Harriet was minister for prisons until she resigned on me and called me a coward, so...

20:27Alex Kernoway:Nerd, actually. Nerd?

20:29Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Christ! Deborah called you a coward. Of course. Stamp duty Deborah.

20:38Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Maybe I'm not the best person to ask. Hmm? Hmm.

20:59Miriam Brann:I'm doing it. It's like the eighth time you said it, bro. Just shit or get off a bar. Fucking going, watch me.

21:10Hughesy:No, I'm on Grand Cayman.

21:11Mel Murray:Right, okay.

21:13Hughesy:My thing is, Beatrice, I was paid for a post-blog. I did the post. It's sun cream. I literally posted me putting on the sun cream.

21:20Mel Murray:But the agency side, Lila. I completely agree with you, right? I saw the post. The agency side of it was at the post without the copy they sent to you.

21:29Hughesy:The copy was cringe, Beatrice. The copy was so, so bad. Can I help? Hey. Sorry, hold on, Beatrice. Hi.

21:41Miriam Brann:Hey, so, um... See that boat out there?

21:44Hughesy:That one.

21:46Miriam Brann:No, the one, like, in front of that one.

21:48Hughesy:The smaller one?

21:50Miriam Brann:Yeah, the smaller one, I guess. I'm having a... My buddies are having a party on my boat later, and...

22:00Hughesy:How many people? I'm wondering... Um, like, probably like 15. On that thing?

22:07Miriam Brann:Probably. Maybe, yeah. I don't know. What are my chances here? Feeling kind of vulnerable.

22:16Hughesy:What's your name?

22:18Miriam Brann:Um, Chris.

22:19Hughesy:Okay. Um, Chris, you're going to need a bigger boat.

22:23Miriam Brann:Right? Nice. Jaws. I actually saw that when they released...

22:27Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Chris? Yeah?

22:29Hughesy:This is actually the end of the conversation.

22:32James Mur...:Oh. Okay. Okay.

22:36Hughesy:Bye. Bye.

22:40Hughesy:Hi, Beatrice.

22:42Mel Murray:I won't keep you, Lila. But I'll just say, the PR agency gave you a lot of money. I think we redo the post.

22:50Hughesy:Fine. Not today. Then, yeah.

22:54Mel Murray:Tomorrow.

22:54Hughesy:I won't be at Run Beach tomorrow.

22:56Mel Murray:Where will you be?

22:58Hughesy:Don't know. I'll figure it out. I actually should go. Someone else has just arrived.

23:04Mel Murray:Another guy?

23:05Hughesy:Yeah, but this one doesn't have a boat. What a term. Okay, love. Bye.

23:11Addie Azikiwe:Lina.

23:12Hughesy:Hi, Paul. Nice socks?

23:14Addie Azikiwe:Asda. Nice bikini.

23:17Hughesy:Dior.

23:19Addie Azikiwe:Gift for Lila lifestyle, I hope.

23:21Hughesy:Of course. You're blocking the sun.

23:24Addie Azikiwe:At the bar, please, now.

23:27Hughesy:Is this for work?

23:29Addie Azikiwe:Mm-hmm.

23:30Hughesy:Oh, great. You want to have a classified conversation at the bar? The public bar? Come on.

23:45Addie Azikiwe:Corporate entity came and registered. Alma, ALMA, operating director, is dead. What's the objective? Intelligence gathering exercise looking for affiliated parties.

23:58Hughesy:Yeah?

23:59Addie Azikiwe:Mm-hmm. Here.

24:03Hughesy:Well, that's a total nothing address.

24:06Addie Azikiwe:Sure.

24:07Hughesy:Yeah, second floor regatta office park. No. No way these people have a fucking clue about who's registered there. You need... Where's the stamp of incorporation?

24:17Addie Azikiwe:Um, um, um, um, um, here.

24:21Hughesy:Fourteen months ago. Yes, wet ink. Whoop!

24:25Addie Azikiwe:Wet ink?

24:26Hughesy:Not literally, but signature.

24:29Addie Azikiwe:What's good about that?

24:30Hughesy:Non-automated is what's good about that. It'll be filed by a CSP. I can always tell by the memorandum which one it'll be as well. Where's the company memorandum?

24:40Addie Azikiwe:Here, following the restructure and securing of the hidden beneficiary. How can you tell what CSP on the island filed it?

24:47Hughesy:Because there's only two major CSPs on Grand Cayman. One uses British English, the other American English. And there it is. Categorise. American English. That'll be CI Finance. What do we want to know?

25:02Addie Azikiwe:Vox Olive asked for the details of the beneficiary owner of that corporation.

25:06Hughesy:Probably a shell company, but we can give it a go, can't we?

25:10Addie Azikiwe:What are you doing?

25:13Hughesy:Debasing myself?

25:16James Mur...:Hey, baby.

25:18Hughesy:Wes.

25:20James Mur...:Lila. Are you drunk?

25:22Hughesy:I know. I shouldn't have called.

25:25James Mur...:Hold, hold, uh, two seconds. What are you up to? What's going on? On the beach, at the bar, wondering what Wesley Hayne is doing later. I mean, he's kind of busy, but he can be free. Sure, he can be free.

25:42Hughesy:I'll make it easy for you. I'll come to you.

25:45James Mur...:You'll come to me? At work?

25:48Hughesy:After hours, though? Oh, God, I don't want to see all that boring banking stuff.

25:52James Mur...:Banking? Is that what you think I'd do?

25:54Hughesy:Oh, my God, do you not? Oh, how embarrassing. Stop fucking grinning. I'm not.

26:02James Mur...:At work after hours? That sounds good. Sounds good.

26:06Hughesy:I'll message when I'm outside.

26:08James Mur...:Cool.

26:09Hughesy:Cool. Happy? Thrilled, Paul. Fucking thrilled. Knobbed.

26:20Addie Azikiwe:Yeah, he sounds it.

26:21Hughesy:Not talking about him.

26:40Hughesy:Ah, your own office balcony.

26:43James Mur...:Must be doing something right.

26:44Hughesy:Must be.

26:49James Mur...:You never tried a cigar, you said?

26:51Hughesy:Never.

26:53James Mur...:You should try it. Here.

26:55Hughesy:What do I do?

26:57James Mur...:Put it in your mouth. No smiling.

27:00Hughesy:Hard not to.

27:01James Mur...:And what you want to do is pull the smoke in, but don't inhale it. Don't swallow it like cigarette smoke. You're gonna kind of hold, then sigh it back out. A cigar is about mood. It's about being relaxed. It's not kind of cigarette-y, all hunched over.

27:18Hughesy:Gotta have a quick cig.

27:19James Mur...:Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's not that. It's different.

27:23Hughesy:Don't say it's a vibe.

27:25James Mur...:It's a vibe.

27:26Hughesy:Ugh, he said it.

27:28James Mur...:Try it.

27:29Hughesy:Like this?

27:31James Mur...:Mm-hmm.

27:35James Mur...:Oh shit.

27:36Hughesy:Oh shit.

27:40Hughesy:Oh, it's so relaxing.

27:45James Mur...:I'm sorry that didn't quite work out.

27:48Hughesy:Jesus. You okay? Yeah, I should probably.

27:53James Mur...:You gonna throw up?

27:55Hughesy:I don't think so. But I would like to wash my mouth out.

27:59James Mur...:Sure, sure. Take your time.

28:06Hughesy:come on come on beautiful and client list client list alma limited

28:20Hughesy:come on come on pilgrim mall nearly got you nearly got you There you are.

28:41Miriam Brann:Oh, hello, love. Thought you were out with Alex.

28:44Alex Kernoway:He's talking with builders or decorators or something.

28:48Miriam Brann:Ah. All good with the canaways?

28:51Alex Kernoway:Yeah. Yeah. We're going to his tonight, remember? Of course. Oh, what's this?

29:00Miriam Brann:Oh, don't you start. Oh, finally. You've come to the dark side. Oh, no. It's just research. Piss off. Emperor Tiberius. Now you're talking. What have we learned? Come on, test me. Look at you.

29:18Alex Kernoway:You can't wait, can you?

29:20Miriam Brann:Tiberius was Rome's second emperor. Inherited the machinery of empire from Augustus, of course, but didn't get the popularity that came with him, I'm afraid. paranoid about many, many things. In AD 25, he withdraws from Rome. 26? Shit. AD 26. Rules from Capri, a deeply, deeply suspicious man, unsettled, restricted, all access to himself. The more isolated he got, the madder he got. The madder he got, the more obedient his people got. The more obedient they got, the more powerful he got. You can see I'm boring you, sir. You'd make it up to me.

30:00Alex Kernoway:With a cup of tea.

30:05Miriam Brann:Reminds me of a certain somebody. Don't know about you.

30:08Alex Kernoway:Who does?

30:10Miriam Brann:The isolated, paranoid, all-powerful, maniac Tiberius.

30:15Alex Kernoway:Hmm.

30:17Miriam Brann:A Kremlin crackpot. You should see the pictures from Kiev this morning. Disgraceful.

30:39Addie Azikiwe:And it's all here, yeah, Lila?

30:41Hughesy:Mm-hmm.

30:43Addie Azikiwe:Shit.

30:44Hughesy:Oh, you're welcome.

30:46Addie Azikiwe:I think they expected a big fish.

30:49Hughesy:Yeah, me too. At least it's a person and not another company. I checked that guy out, by the way.

30:55Addie Azikiwe:Ex-Special Forces, right?

30:57Hughesy:Right.

30:59Addie Azikiwe:Turned spy, do you think?

31:00Hughesy:For Pilgrim Moor.

31:02Addie Azikiwe:Gay? Well, he could be.

31:04Hughesy:Dismissed by the MOD late last year for sexual assault. Two women came forward.

31:08Addie Azikiwe:You think it goes deeper than this?

31:11Hughesy:I think you get it to Vauxhall and they go figure that out, Paul. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Lila. Good work.

31:22Addie Azikiwe:Uh-huh. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. These are not just countries. They're civilizations. Those flags there. I love the flags. Look at that. I mean, look at us. Look at Great Britain and Russia. Turkey. Our friends in Turkey there. I mean, look. These are the foundations of the modern world. East and West. We built the past. Now we're building the future. Mr. Azakiwi. Mr. Azakiwi. Not now. Speech. It's urgent.

31:59Master Vaner:Urgent.

32:00Addie Azikiwe:That's what the gentleman says. He says it's urgent. Excuse me, Prime Minister.

32:06Mel Murray:Everything alright?

32:08Addie Azikiwe:Be real quick.

32:13Miriam Brann:Thomas Macduff.

32:15Master Vaner:Macduff? How do we know this?

32:18Miriam Brann:A station officer we have in Grand Cayman. She was able to access further corporate information on Alma Limited.

32:24Master Vaner:Right. Sorry.

32:26Miriam Brann:Martin.

32:26Master Vaner:Martin. You're SIS?

32:29Miriam Brann:SIS, Mr. Azikiwe, yes.

32:31Master Vaner:And Mel Murray didn't want to call and tell me about this?

32:34Miriam Brann:That's... I don't know. I couldn't comment. Hmm. If we believe this to be fraudulent activity conducted by the late Mr. Moore and the dismissed sergeant, Macduff here, and not, in fact, a national security threat, this would need to go to NCA. NCA? Yes, that's right. We're an intelligence-gathering body, not a law enforcer. Martin?

32:59Master Vaner:I know that.

33:00Miriam Brann:Of course. NCA would need to build the case and establish their own findings.

33:04Master Vaner:And Alex Kernaway's information didn't appear in this at all, no?

33:09Miriam Brann:That's right. Sir Pilgrim Moore and Thomas Macduff are the only individuals that have any connection to the entity. Shit. We have a report on Macduff. Send over. Will do, Mr Azzequie.

33:25Addie Azikiwe:Never report the truth. Never admit how much we're doing. How much we've been...

33:39Miriam Brann:I'm sorry. Why are we saying bachelor pad is an insult? Ah, good point, James.

33:45Alex Kernoway:No, you said you were decorating to make it feel more like a home and less like a box.

33:50Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Yeah, exactly.

33:51Alex Kernoway:Then you know it's bad.

33:53Miriam Brann:I don't think it's bad, Alex. I'd love a place like this. Careful. I would. No clutter. But also, you say it's soulless, ma 'am. What?

34:03Alex Kernoway:Did I say soulless?

34:05Miriam Brann:Someone said it. Did they not? Freudian slip from your husband. No, sorry. Look at this lovely, embroidered little textile wall art.

34:17Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:You're not helping me, James. Am I not?

34:21Alex Kernoway:He's had that. He's had that since...

34:25Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Uni.

34:25Alex Kernoway:Since university. That is the artistic heart and soul of Alex Cairnaway. The one thing he has. What does it say? Tis folly to be won?

34:38Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Grandmother. Had a chip on her shoulder about my want for further education. Smart-arse Kerner, the way she called me. She knitted that for me when I left home. I've had it ever since.

34:50Miriam Brann:It's a start, isn't it? Fill me up. I'll go empty the rest now. He's being funny.

34:57Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Looking for the toilet?

34:59Miriam Brann:This one out of bounds?

35:00Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Yeah, it's all drained and sealed off until they put the tiles back. Use the en suite.

35:04Alex Kernoway:He's renovating his box.

35:06Miriam Brann:Through your bedroom?

35:08Alex Kernoway:Yep.

35:09Miriam Brann:He makes his own bed with no wife to even nag him.

35:13Alex Kernoway:He has a cleaner, James.

35:15Miriam Brann:We should get one of those.

35:17Alex Kernoway:You have one of those.

35:24Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Guess who's taking a job, by the way?

35:27Alex Kernoway:Oh.

35:28Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Got to pay for the cleaner somehow.

35:30Alex Kernoway:It's not Director of His Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, is it?

35:34Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:No, but I hear the star candidate is dragging her feet. No, no, no, it's the Water Foundation. Good for you. Good for me. Half the work's in Thailand. There's worse places.

35:46Alex Kernoway:Yeah.

35:47Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:But, yeah, so that will start probably in a couple of months.

35:54Alex Kernoway:Ambassador role? No, president. President.

35:58Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Yeah.

35:58Alex Kernoway:You went from prime minister to president.

36:02Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:President of all water.

36:05Alex Kernoway:Well done. Cheers.

36:12Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:We'll be as London-based as I can be at first.

36:16Alex Kernoway:For some in Greece. Yeah.

36:20Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:I'm doing Monday and Friday school pickups and collection now. That's great. Yeah. No abuse at the school gates. Yet. Yet. Yeah.

36:35Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:What about you? Made your mind up?

36:40Alex Kernoway:I think so. I don't know if I'll do it. Mel. No, no, don't. I just, I can't be one foot in, one foot out. I've got to be all or nothing.

36:51Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:No, I understand. I understand.

36:54Alex Kernoway:But sending number ten to the NCA with their tail between their legs is a nice wind to go out on.

37:01Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:NCA?

37:03Alex Kernoway:On Pilgrim's Little Foray. Oh.

37:10Addie Azikiwe:You bastard!

37:12Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:What's up? Don't tell me that toilet's sealed up as well.

37:17Miriam Brann:I picked this book of yours up. I'm near salivating. Killing Tiberius. I thought, I don't know this one. Turns out, it's a bloody spy thriller. You're as bad as her. Ha! Full of hope it'd be some suetonious pastiche. Chronicle of macro-smothering Tiberius. Turn it over. Can Britain's best soldier kill the Russian president?

37:43Master Vaner:Oh, for goodness sake.

37:46Miriam Brann:All right. I'm only half joking. I can just about stomach Le Carre. Ah, Eldest's trying out. Oh, who's he trying out? Uh, Ludlam. Oh, bloody Robert Ludd.

37:59Alex Kernoway:Speaking of, we should get back. No, come on. No, because... Mel. No, because Luke was saying he didn't feel 100 % in leaving him in charge, isn't it? Not fair, so...

38:10Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Mel, just a second.

38:12Miriam Brann:Well, you help Alex with this mess. I just tell the fellow in reception... Yes, yeah.

38:17Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:They'll get the cab.

38:19Miriam Brann:Lovely.

38:23Mel.

38:26Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Mel.

38:26Alex Kernoway:Get off me. What did you do?

38:30Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Just listen to me for a second.

38:32Alex Kernoway:What the fuck did you do? Is Tiberius the Russian president?

38:37Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Before you even think that...

38:38Alex Kernoway:Is it the fucking Russian president? Alex? Could be. Who knows? Who knows? Who fucking knows?

38:51Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Plausible deniability.

38:53Alex Kernoway:The only thing that is plausible here is World War III. Just hold on a second. Don't. Just get the fuck away from me. Mel, something had to be done. Oh, something had to be done. It had to. Says the man with no children. Says the man who has no skin in the game anymore.

39:10Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:350 people were skin in the game, Mel. Eloise was...

39:14Alex Kernoway:Oh, to turn her daughter to fucking ashes as well. In for a penny, eh? In for a fucking pound!

39:21Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:It can't get back to us, I assure you.

39:24Alex Kernoway:You don't know what you're talking about.

39:27Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Yes, I do.

39:27Alex Kernoway:You don't. You are a civilian. You had a few briefings, sipped the odd coffee with the NSC, and you think you can execute an operation like this.

39:38Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:He's an old man.

39:39Alex Kernoway:Exactly.

39:40Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Oh, so you think he'll go quietly. You think I've got nothing to lose. He's got nothing to lose, right? He has to go, and he has to go quickly. There would have been more planes. There would have been more territories and poisons. There's the Arctic. He's on the war path and he's winning. Then we adapt. That is not what you told me to do. Jesus Christ. That was not the expressed wishes of my intelligence chief.

40:03Alex Kernoway:I meant use diplomacy, Alex. Not fucking... Jesus.

40:11Alex Kernoway:What is... How does this happen? How does this all go ahead? Is it in this?

40:20Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:Possibly. I'm not sure. A spy novel.

40:26Alex Kernoway:Like, I'm obviously disappointed and furious, right? But this, from a book? I'm embarrassed for you, okay? I'm embarrassed for you, Alex. And now I've got to go and undo all this. Haven't I? Not possible.

40:50Miriam Brann:Our carriage awaits!

40:54Alex Kernoway:What did you say? Alex. What do you know of this operation? Tell me we can roll this back. Tell me this can be undone. Alex.

41:13Tom "Duffy" MacDuff:I know nothing. Save that. Nothing can be done.

41:26Addie Azikiwe:Tis folly to be wise.

41:32Miriam Brann:Everything all right?

41:34Alex Kernoway:Hmm? Yeah. Just some work stuff.

41:39Miriam Brann:Yeah. Of course.

41:59James Mur...:We have been allies. We have been enemies. We are exploring a new relationship now.

42:09Mel Murray:I actually couldn't agree more with the Russian president on this. So many in politics can only picture the world as it is, not how it could be. And I'm honored that the man that leads the proud people of Russia wishes to collaborate with us, side by side, in the new world.

42:28James Mur...:It is good. It is exciting.

42:32Mel Murray:I agree. Thank you.

42:39Mel Murray:But a substance? Great. Perfect. We hit everything we wanted to hit. We had no, like, Ukraine wasn't mentioned. Not one. We obviously, there was that discussion about the US as a kind of world leader. That was obviously all.

42:51Hughesy:But it was a natural transition.

42:52Mel Murray:Exactly. To the UK-Russia relationship. I don't just think that plays well in Russia, I think it plays well at home, to be honest.

42:59Master Vaner:Prime Minister.

43:00Mel Murray:Whatever it is has to wait. I've got that Turkey import-export thing.

43:03Master Vaner:Urgent.

43:04Mel Murray:Shit.

43:05Master Vaner:You'll be quick.

43:06Mel Murray:Really quick. No, we need to walk and talk. I have to be there ten minutes ago.

43:10Master Vaner:In here. Has to be.

43:13Mel Murray:Why?

43:14Master Vaner:It's secure.

43:17Mel Murray:Right.

43:20Mel?

43:22Alex Kernoway:Prime Minister. Did you fly out with us? I did not. Just came in on the 614, I think it was. Ouch. Everything alright? The beneficiary of the holdings of Alma Limited. The Macduff individual. Yes, I've been informed. Thomas Macduff is known as Duffy. He's Special Forces, Prime Minister. Mel, I have. I'm quite pressed for time. We believe with high probability that Duffy is enacting an operation to eliminate a target codenamed Tiberius. And who is Tiberius? The man who you just sat down in discussion with, Prime Minister. Sorry, what? The president of Russia.

44:23What?

44:24Alex Kernoway:What then? Call it off. Duffy is unreachable. Just under five months ago, on the 21st of October,

44:37Master Vaner:Duffy, following dismissal by the MOD, took flight QR8 from Heathrow to Doha, connected and then onwards QR1455 to Lusaka, Zambia. Then just contact Lusaka.

44:57Alex Kernoway:It's likely that he has progressed to the next stage of his operation. In China, where he will carry out the operation.

45:14Mel Murray:Prime Minister. We're already quite late. Of course. Yeah, I'm... Miriam, are you okay? Okay. Okay. No, no, no. I'm alright. I've got water. I'm alright. I'm alright, thank you. Just not eaten yet. All good. All good. Ready? I can ask them to cancel. No. Okay. This way.

46:00Hello. Hello.

46:03Mel Murray:Welcome to Beijing.

46:05Master Vaner:Thank you very much.

46:06Mel Murray:For work? Yeah.

46:09Master Vaner:Permit here.

46:11Mel Murray:Thank you. One moment. Absolutely.

46:51To be continued...