Gabriel Gatehouse

I mean, there are lots of other plausible explanations, right?

One is it was just bad luck.

Two is the quiet beers weren't that quiet and they went on a bit of a rampage and did some things that they were told not to do.

And that's why it happened.

Here's the thing, though.

Every time I got to a point where I was like, I don't think this happened, I would find another bit of circumstantial evidence that would point to how plausible it is.

It was a really confounding journey.

I mean, it's an interesting and very valid question.

Number one, I would say, at the moment, I'm not sure that Russia needs any help putting stress and strain on the special relationship that is happening as we speak.

Look, if this is Russian active measures, which it could be, let's be honest about this, because the sourcing chain is third hand.

One football journalist, very reputable, said he heard it from another football journalist, he said he heard it from the senator, and the two top links in that chain are dead.

So it could be that somewhere in that there's a Russian active measures campaign.

I would say that this story emerged several decades ago and has sat almost unnoticed in an obscure chapter of an obscure book by a football writer for all of those many, many years.

So if this is an active measures campaign by the Russians, it dates back to either the late 90s or the early noughties, and they've done a very poor job of promoting it.

Okay.

Well, look, I do have an idea about that.

And I do want to keep some of my little goodies back for my own podcast.

However, I would say to you that you remember we talked about Dick Helms, who was Richard Helms, who was the head of the CIA from 66 to 72.

When I had a look in Senator Symington's archives, there were a lot of letters that began, Dear Dick.

We're getting operational information from David here.