Guido has spoken to numerous sources at the Cabinet Office over the last few days, all of whom seemed surprised to be told that Prince Charles has a secret employee on secondment in the department. Two said they had no idea who the mystery man was and one even asked Guido if he had any more information that could help find him. At last this afternoon the Cabinet Office went on the record on the issue for the first time:

“We cannot give out any information about who the person is or what they are doing here. We can’t give out anything that could lead to his identity being revealed.”

The excuse that anything other than complete opaqueness could lead to Charles’ point man being revealed to the world is hardly satisfactory. What are his responsibilities at the Cabinet Office? How long has he been working there? How much is he being paid? And, most importantly, why is an employee of the Household of the Prince of Wales on secondment in the heart of government? Questions Guido will be putting to them in FoI form this afternoon…