David Lloyd George was unique in being a Prime Minister without a party.  Having burned his boats with Asquith and the mainstream Liberal Party, he had to create a new party and secure the vast funds necessary for this new political force.  He decided to pay for it by raising money from the sale of political honours.  At the centre of this system was Arthur Maundy Gregory, a curious and shadowy figure.  Gregory set about his task with gusto, selling honours on a vast and unprecedented scale.  But who was Gregory?  Where had he come from?  And what happened to those who purchased those honours, whose descendants are still enjoying the benefits today?

This book, for the first time, provokes a comprehensive biography of the man Scotland Yard described as the ‘most mysterious character the police ever had to deal with’.  As well as helping Lloyd George amass a political fund of over £4m and becoming a rich man himself in the process, Gregory used his newfound wealth to found a newspaper, acquire a gentleman’s club in Mayfair and maintain his links with the Secret Service, for whom he had been agent during the First World War.