But if the parents only show confidence in the nanny there are no limits to what she will do. Despite recent discussion of what tasks the British nanny will – or won’t – perform, Veronica was always the chief finder of lost items for my father and never refused to do something for him because he was not her charge. Indeed, when my mother was a Westminster councillor and often out in the evenings, she would happily make him supper – as she still does for me.