Several civil servants who work for government have been attacked during the febrile Brexit process, and now it has been the turn of parliamentary officials — named and shamed in the Sunday papers just for doing their job. Their boss, the clerk of the Commons, has taken the rare step of writing a robust public defence. He’s absolutely right, but the context of the clerk’s job may need a bit more explanation for those not familiar with Westminster.

Clerks are not civil servants. Civil servants work for the government of the day. Clerks work for the House, and for each MP (or peer) inside the House. You must be interested in politics to be a good clerk, but you must not have any political views