liaison with him. Nelson's family go on holiday and stay in a hotel run by Grosvenor, an impoverished aristocrat. On privately discovering Nelson's neuroses, he becomes sympathetic; the two men vent their frustrations over the collapse of English decency. Meanwhile, the plotters search the Nelsons' house for the file, only to discover that Nelson has taken it with him on holiday. In a meeting with McGuire, Barnes and Grenville reveal that they are in fact intelligence agents who have infiltrated Labour in order to root out the militants. Having discovered that the genuine hard-left had apparently withered, they have resorted to gaslighting Murray and staging the riots to discredit and destabilise the opposition. Grenville's brother (another of the conspirators) attempts to retrieve the file from the Nelsons' holiday home, but is discovered by Nelson, who suspects that he was sent by Murray and beats him with a tennis racket. Posing as CID police officers, the plotters then raid the holiday home and retrieve the file. Returning home, Nelson appears at his local Labour branch, to defend himself against charges made by the conspirators of working against the party. Driven by guilt, Murray makes an oblique and faltering private attempt to reconcile himself with Nelson, but is furiously rebuffed. Greville's thugs find themselves outnumbered by both the local members and the Labour-supporting farmers, who show up in support for Nelson; the motion for Nelson's expulsion is rejected. Meanwhile an arrest warrant is issued against Murray for inciting the riots. Barbara is revealed to be the younger sister of Eileen, the girl who victimised Murray during their childhood. Having had a morbid fascination with death during her girlhood, Eileen once cajoled the young Murray into choking her—the secret that Murray has been trying to hide. Eileen eventually killed herself. After a lifetime of vengeful feelings towards Murray, Barbara finally accepts that he was a victim. In recompense, Barbara helps Murray to secretly record a conversation in which the plotters admit their intention to provoke riots. She leaves him a recording of the confession, as well as revealing the information absolving him of any guilt about Eileen. Murray abandons his ambitions and resigns himself to his political fate, allowing Barbara to deliver him to the police. However, as she parts company with Barnes, Barbara reveals that his attempts to prevent the recording were unsuccessful. As Murray faces his fate, the Nelsons look to