The man behind the explosive insider’s take of Donald Trump’s White House is a 64-year-old New York socialite who has built a career documenting the rich and powerful.

Michael Wolff, a balding and bespectacled journalist with a sharp tongue, has previously written books on Rupert Murdoch and other big media “money guys”.

His acerbic columns for magazines and newspapers over the years have become known for their “first-class gossip” and unrivaled access to those in the know.

The writer has at times become the source of media attention himself, not least over his divorce and a new relationship with a women 30 years his junior.

But it is the method behind Mr Wolff’s vivid accounts that has been thrust into the spotlight after his new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, sent shockwaves through Washington.