Sorry Dave, it’s Boris and Farage for Charlie Brooks

The other darling of the CLA Game Fair — alongside former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson — was Charlie Brooks (aka Mr Rebekah Wade), who appears to be back on the country scene in a big way.

‘I’m a big fan of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’, the former litigant tells me. ‘I’ve always been a convert to be honest, which tells you what I make of politicians these days’.

Curiously, it turns out Farage’s pub landlord was a juror in the Brooks’ recent trial, a fact that only came to light when the Ukip leader met Brooks for the first time on Friday.

‘You talked all sorts of nonsense, but you seem to have got away with it,’ joked one well wisher to Brooks over lunch. The racehorse trainer and writer carefully explained that his chum was talking about standing in at the last minute in a debate about the EU, rather than anything else.