He knows what the Mail (the best and the nastiest paper in Britain) will do. Challenged, they will find a woman or boy who will accuse Sir Bernard of a sex offence. Not hard to do these days when walking in a crowded rail station can get you arrested for sexual penetration. Perhaps Sir Bernard doesnt use public transport, being a senior public servant whose every move must be monitored by the security services, rather like Lord Bramall, so a historical allegation might be wiser.

The Mail, being likewise brave and indisputably cunning, if not intelligent, knows well that they must believe this accuser. They would not want to break the law by conspiring to pervert the course of justice. As that well known PR used to tell his football women accusers, he needed to believe their stories were credible and true.

Faced with this Mail victim, Hogan-Howe knows he will be arrested before any investigation. That is police policy. His career will then be ended. May, Johnson and the others cannot extend the contract of an arrested man. He could, of course, make a visit to a friendly foreign country (Ecuador is meant to be nice at this time of year) but Bernie is clearly wise enough to understand this. He must have decided to conclude his career by bravely bringing to an end this farce which has turned the pursuit of justice into a joke which costs Britain millions. The investigation and prosecution of the Waterloo innocent passing penetrator must have cost us all the annual salaries of dozens of junior doctors.

The Mail, elated by the success of their proud journalists and aware that the phone hacking scandal has so far been something like two media to fifty police jailed, will probably then turn against Lynne Owens, top lady cop. Harder, as men are easier to accuse of sex offences than women, and The Guardian has its own agenda on that, but thanks to Google, the False Accusers friend, they can probably find genuine allegations against husbands or children which might be effective, although police are known to drop their loved ones like hot potatoes in the face of career damage.

The only question is - how long will it be before currently serving ministers realise they may be next and do something about the False Allegations Industry? After Ken Clarke, Ted Heath, Leon Britton, Lord Bramall, Harvey Proctor and others, you would think the penny would have dropped. And that is the key word. Penny. It will be money wot does it. Faced by the billions, not just millions, wasted on investigations, prosecutions, convictions and packed prisons, even the media will do an about turn and suddenly support reversing a policy which has, for years, given them great stories, the Holy Grail of modern society.