Sir Geoffrey Cox, tireless defender of tax haven against the Foreign Office

The ex-attorney general has spent months at a corruption inquiry - acting not for a UK constituent but the PM of the British Virgin Islands

Day after day, Sir Geoffrey Cox, the UK attorney general during the Brexit crisis, has been sitting hunched over a pile of court papers trying to prove to the UK government not that a member of his Torridge and West Devon constituency is innocent of corruption, but the innocence of the prime minister of the British Virgin Islands.

His understanding of the complex constitution of the BVI, a British overseas territory, is masterful, including its relationship with London, auditor reports on how the BVI spent hurricane cash, or indeed the procedures for chairing the BVI cabinet.