Politics calls for men and women of experience - citizens of high repute and sound judgment. Vice-Chancellor Professor Clifford Conquest is a Labour politician in the making who has heard the call. Conquest is invited to become an advisor on the future of university education to Labour MP Marcus Lancing.

He soon begins to fear that those defending the bastions of Socialism are being driven to madness by Think Tanks, Specialist Advisors, Chief Future Officers, the Commentariat and the Battle of the Civilisations. The Tory Government, he has no doubt, already has. On his way to a parliamentary seat, Conquest finds himself increasingly immersed in a world of political double-dealing beset by the industry of bad conscience.

He skirts scandals aplenty, but he knows how to ride the zeitgeist, and surely his battle-hardened experience of universities, where revolting students, ideological strife and bungled management are everyday hazards, has fully prepared him for political life?