Three wheels on my wagon...By Simon Sweetman

HMRC, we are told, is now to be run by a triumvirate (or possibly a troika, or if you insist on Anglo-Saxon, a threesome) consisting of Mike Clasper, the non-executive chair, Lesley Strathie, the Chief Executive, and Dave Hartnett as permanent secretary, tax.

A triumvirate is a sort of ménage a trios without the rude bits. So Mike knows about money, Lesley about people, and Dave about tax. Excellent. But the omens for tripartite government are not always good.

Let us remind ourselves. the first Roman triumvirate was an informal political alliance of two rival generals, Julius Caesar and Pompey with the wealthy businessman Marcus Lucinius Crassus. This fell apart after the death of Crassus, and the two other triumvirs fought a civil war, during which Pompey was killed and Caesar established his sole rule as perpetual dictator.

The second triumvirate was a formal governing body, consisting of Octavian and Mark Antony, the rivals for real power, and third wheel Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Lepidus was sidelined early on in the triumvirate, and Antony was eliminated in a civil war, leaving Octavian as the sole leader.

Then of course in 1923 after the death of Lenin, Kamenev joined Stalin and Zinoviev forming the triumvirate (troika) against Trotskyism.

Triumvirates also seem to be popular in SF, for reasons that escape me. The rule of thumb is that they are the bad guys and that it all ends in tears. We might mention the Advocacy of the War of the Worlds TV series, three aliens who made up a triumvirate to guide and counsel the lower classes. That sounds more like it.

Or of course there is the Trinity, and it is clear enough who is which. Mike is the father, Lesley the son (members of the trinity, being incorporeal, may be taken as gender-free), and Dave is the holy ghost. There is no holy moonlighter.

Perhaps, though, the most conspicuously successful example is that of the Three Billygoats Gruff, though in that case the alpha male, Great Big Billygoat Gruff, was very clearly the one in charge. Still, all the best to HMRC and let’s hope they can cross the rickety rackety bridge to the good grass and deal with the tax avoidance troll on the way.