Helen

Helen Macnamara occupies the true Siege Perilous in the current adminstration. She is Director General Propriety & Ethics.

As keeper of rules, you can imagine what fun she's having with Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings. She's bolstering her team by recruiting a £60k HR operative to try to sort out some guidelines around special advisors, historically hired in Westminster pubs and wine bars. The successful candidate will have continuing role to make sure a good number leave their employment quietly.

Helen, 44, went to Clare College, Cambridge; at some point she ran a pub in Northern Ireland, and dallied with dot-com companies before joining the Civil Service. She toiled with Tessa Jowell on the Olympic bid, and then worked on Housing. She has four children, finds time to be an external advisor to Goldsmiths, and is a member of the new women-only club, AllBright.

• Late add. Helen is married to former BBC trust apparatchik Alex Towers, now toiling at BT. Helen had to declare the relationship when she was at the DCMS and he was Deputy Director of the BBC Trust.