Jonathan Powell is one of the most influential, shadowy figures in Britain; a posh, Oxford-educated mandarin who seems to fancy himself as a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia, swanning around the Middle East to cut secret deals with warlords.

As the UK’s National Security Adviser — a powerful, unelected political appointment secured under Keir Starmer and remarkably retained under Prime Minister Andy Burnham — Powell sits at the very heart of Downing Street’s security machine. He learned his craft at the feet of his ultimate political mentor, Tony Blair. Wherever and whenever dubious Middle Eastern interventionism is cooking, Blair’s shadow is never far away.

Serving as Blair’s right-hand man during the disastrous Iraq War era, Powell demonstrated early on that he had a keen appetite for high-stakes regional meddling. After leaving No 10, he built an entire second career out of courting some of the most shadowy figures on the planet through his secretive London outfit, Inter-Mediate, headquartered just off Queen Street in the heart of the capital.

It was Powell’s back-channel PR machine that famously helped put a Savile Row-style makeover on Syrian militant rebel leader Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani, scrubbing off the combat fatigues, ditching the battlefield facial wrap or imamah, and rebranding him as a respectable, suit-wearing statesman.

It was Powell’s back-channel PR machine that famously helped put a Savile Row-style makeover on Syrian militant........

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