When Green (pictured) took up the role of director in 2012, the SFO was widely considered to be in bad shape.

A £4.5m settlement in 2014 with property entrepreneurs Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz over dawn raids on their homes that had been criticised by the High Court in 2012, and the revelation that the agency paid out almost £1m in exit payments to staff without approval had come in quick succession, with the blows leading to the organisation being dubbed the “Serious Farce Office” by some.