Our Kind of Traitor

by John Le Carré

‘You’ll just have to take our word for it.’ ‘Your Service’s word?’ ‘For the time being, yes.’ ‘On the strength of what? Aren’t you supposed to be the gentlemen who lie for the good of their country?’ ‘That’s diplomats. We’re not gentlemen.’ ‘So you lie to save your hides.’ ‘That’s politicians. Different game entirely.’

They’re an old married couple, thought Luke, as Hector pressed ‘play’ on the tape recorder. Every quarrel they have is a rerun of one they’ve had before.

Of all the vulture capitalists, asset-strippers, dawn-raiders and carpet-buggers that ever stepped – according to Hector – Aubrey Longrigg was the most two-faced, devious, backsliding, dishonest and well-connected.

Vulture Capitalists - such a strong word picture

dressed in grey flannels and blazer, stood a tall, grey-haired, aggressively British man of the entitled classes,

Spot on … expecting to grab an outsize share of the cake, without having to bother about helping enlarge it, or distribute it more equitably