Powerfully built, both physically and intellectually, Daddy is the mastermind that holds MI5 together. No-one knows his real name, only his ironic nickname.
He is a man of immense political power who knows the true scale of the threats facing Britain. A Whitehall veteran, Daddy bears the scars of successive failures of MI5. Each agent lost is a scar upon his heart, but he’ll do what it takes to stop the threats of the Cold War, whatever it costs him.

However just as the British Empire is being slowly dismantled, Daddy senses an erosion of his own kingdom too. His best hopes of retaining his position, and trying to help The Fray regain its former reputation lie with the formation of the committee. For these are the chosen few, those cherry picked by Daddy to investigate what could be the most audacious Soviet plot to date. And each of them owes something to Daddy, but are they all as loyal as he hopes?

As the committee investigates, Daddy pulls the strings, getting money, personnel and clearances when necessary. Daddy is risking everything on this operation and it must be a success.

As far as the world is concerned, Daddy’s personal life is unremarkable. A small neat house with a small neat wife inside it who believes - or chooses to believe - that her husband is something important at the Ministry of Agriculture. They belong to a generation that thinks emotions and introspection are essentially one step away from socialism.

But Daddy’s Achilles heel is a growing infatuation with a dancer, an exquisite girl, too young and too beautiful for him. But associating with a Chinese girl is not without its risks, as Daddy well knows.