Tom Bradby

Is the conversation they've overheard been effectively staged for their benefit?

Is this a hook that's going to reel MI6 in and have them chasing their tail for months and months on end?

This is all stuff, David, both of you will be more than very familiar with.

It's often struck me that

are some really big differences between journalists and intelligence agents, but there are some similarities.

The bit that's similar is the process.

You develop your contacts and your sources and all the rest of it.

You get a piece of information.

Then you try and assess, is it correct?

Is it true?

Is it right?

Did someone have a vested interest in telling me?

Might they have had a reason to mislead me?

I found thinking about all that kind of fascinating.

Then there was the question of how are bosses

would respond.

Obviously, the ultimate boss of SIS is the Foreign Secretary, who of course is one of the chief suspects in the story.

I just thought that was an intriguing idea.

You guys are the experts on this, but I'm interested to know how you think it would play out if you came back with that bit of intel.

The other thing now is that we all have the experience of America.