Tommy is a personal secretary to up-and-coming Tory MP Robert Argyllus - and more than that, nudge nudge wink wink. Not that he's anything other than the soul of discretion. Not that he has much choice, now that the Party machinery has gone into gear and found Argyllus a suitable wife - much, much more suitable than Tommy could ever be.

A future Conservative minister - a possible future Conservative PRIME minister - could never have an openly acknowledged gay partner. Still less a publicly presented trans wife...

So Tommy is looking for comfort elsewhere. He's always been jealous of Linus, Robert's closest, oldest friend - and more than that, once. But now, maybe now they have enough in common for alliance. And still enough antagonism to strike sparks...