‘I thought our job involved preserving democracy,’ he said. ‘How does harassing a journalist help?’
‘Are you serious? It ought to be one of our key performance indicators.’ Lamb pronounced this phrase as if it had been on a form he’d lately binned. ‘This particular example, then.’ ‘Try not to think of him as a journalist. And more as a potential danger to the integrity of the body politic.’ ‘Is that what he is?’ ‘I don’t know. Anything in his rubbish suggest he might be?’ ‘Well, he smokes. But that’s not actually been upgraded to security threat.
— Slow Horses (Mick Herron)