On Monday David Cameron told the Today programme that there were "elements of truth" in Yes, Prime Minister's description of the relationship between minister and official.
But as a description of the actual relationship between the public and private sector in America today, at least outside the national-security realm, it's mostly nonsense.
One chapter that begins with a description of Duveen's relationship with Henry Clay Frick, who in his old age became one of Duveen's most important clients, directly follows another that ends with an account of the sinking of the Lusitania in the spring of 1915.