Out of the limelight: Goldstone is in southeast Asia writing a book with the working title Useful Idiot: How an Email Trumped My Life

Rob Goldstone was one of the most distinctive faces of the summer, his ample features emblazoned across page and screen, staring out from a slew of selfies in silly hats, posing alongside celebrities or engaged in comedic solo video vignettes. The British music publicist emerged from nowhere as an implausible central figure in the torrent of allegations claiming that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with the Kremlin to win last year’s election against Hillary Clinton. And the images of Goldstone plucked from the rich trove of his social-media outpourings added an eccentric flavour to the saga swirling around the White House.

Then he disappeared — until now. As the great American political drama has plunged through its latest convolutions, and charges have been laid against