The job is said to come with a £200,000 salary, a central London des res, and the vague-sounding cover title of “minister-counsellor” at the US embassy. Unlike other diplomatic postings, there is not much time on the VIP cocktail circuit, however. The CIA’s London station chief works largely in the shadows, their identity generally unknown beyond the inner circles of Britain’s security establishment.

Such discretion is hardly surprising for an envoy who surely ranks high on the hit lists of America’s enemies. Yet the man lined up for the job now finds himself very much in the spotlight, having been felled before even taking it.

CIA veteran Tom Sylvester is the victim, it is claimed, not of cloak-and-dagger tactics by Russia or Iran but a civil war in Washington between America’s top spy agency and Donald Trump’s White House.

Judging by his swashbuckling CV, Sylvester had seemed an ideal candidate for the role in London – the CIA’s most prestigious overseas posting. A former US Navy Seal, he spent more than 30 years as an agent, working in pre and post-Saddam Iraq before becoming operations chief for Europe and Eurasia in 2021. Not only did he gather intelligence that Vladimir Putin was planning to invade Ukraine, he also ensured Washington gave Kyiv enough arms and support to withstand the subsequent onslaught. Two years ago, off the back of his Ukraine work, he was promoted to deputy CIA director for operations, running day-to-day spy operations worldwide. Heading the London station was expected to be his reward for a distinguished field career.

On Monday, though, The New York Times reported that Sylvester, 60, had decided to retire instead, after the CIA’s Trump-appointed director, John Ratcliffe, U-turned on sending him to London. It leaves Britain – normally America’s senior partner in transatlantic security affairs – as a casualty in the Washington turf war.