“There are two companies in our sector that have had a chief executive disclose a serious medical condition in the last decade.

Both of them announced a succession plan within nine months.

Both of those chief executives were described in the press as ‘stepping back to focus on health.’ Neither of them was ill enough to stop working and both of them are alive and one of them is on two boards.

“There is no version where a board is told that its CEO has spinal fractures and nerve damage and a recovery of unknown duration, and responds by saying: fine, carry on.

What happens is that eleven directors start having conversations without me in them.