SERCO’S resumption of shareholder dividends after recording bumper profits is a scandal that tells a story about modern Britain.

The disgraced privateer — for how else can you describe a company fined more than £20 million as recently as 2019 for defrauding the taxpayer? — is on a roll.

Earlier this month it announced the $295m acquisition of a firm providing services to the US military, which chief executive Rupert Soames purred was “the largest defence market in the world.” Wherever vast sums of public money are available to be tapped you will find this company.