The disgrace of Bell Pottinger has prompted vigorous spinning by rivals keen to quash the idea that the firm’s downfall says anything about the wider corporate and financial PR industry.

In the most important sense this is right. Bell Pottinger was an outlier in its willingness to charge high fees to represent clients that other firms wouldn’t touch. Founder Lord Bell argued that “everyone’s entitled to put their view across” and he was prepared to take money from pretty much anyone, apart from Robert Mugabe and the Labour Party.