The ratio of virtuous to venal politicians at local level is probably no different to that ratio anywhere else on the political pyramid but by their very immediacy, by their in-your-face familiarity, their foibles are all the more easily seen and criticised.

The good working relationship between my father and President Reagan is well documented, as is the President’s intervention with Prime Minister Thatcher in 1984 to get the Anglo-Irish talks back on track.