Is Alexander Nix gravely misunderstood?

Alexander Nix looks the part of a Bond villain: the sinister-sounding surname, the cut-glass accent and his position at the centre of a conspiracy theory involving Brexit, Trump and dodgy data. Even Steve Bannon – the man most people love to hate – thinks he is bad news.

But have we all got the beleaguered former chief executive of Cambridge Analytica wrong? Is he actually the victim in the fallout surrounding his company’s downfall?

You’d be forgiven for thinking so on the basis of his appearance in parliament this week. Nix’s time in front of the select committee was supposed to be a chance for MPs to pile in and complete his humiliation. In the end, they failed; the pillorying backfired. If nothing else, it seems, Nix is at least a good salesman who knew how to make the most of the platform given to him in Portcullis House.

Firstly, he was able to use parliamentary privilege to call out his accusers, in particular his most vocal, flamboyant ­adversary: the pink-haired, self-professed ‘data nerd’ Christopher Wylie.