A friend who used to live opposite Chelsea Cloisters in London would sometimes see middle-aged men entering the apartment block and leaving red faced, many wearing large overcoats even in summer. Most were discreet about their paid liaisons with women in flats rented by the day, but one man arrived clutching a large jar of Nutella and a can of cream foam.

High-end prostitution has been going on for years and not just in Chelsea Cloisters, which has now attracted notoriety as “ten floors of whores” on punters’ websites. Sanctified by the film Pretty Woman, these liaisons often seem to involve politicians in one form or other. Tories, Lib Dems and Labour take their turn to be spanked or to make money out of