Government investigations are usually tediously slow affairs, designed to take the sting out of scandals as well as to ensure that evidence is gathered in painstaking good order.
Rishi Sunak was desperate for the probe by his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, into Nadhim Zahawi’s tax saga to be a quick one. No 10 will be grateful for the express delivery of the report, which led to the Tory chair’s sacking on Sunday morning, less than a week after it was ordered.
But it has not stopped some from speculating that Mr Sunak could simply have asked his own questions of Mr Zahawi, and sacked him more than a week ago – saving the party so many damaging headlines about a super-wealthy Tory minister in trouble with HMRC.
