If you need to have your finger on the pulse of the nation – any nation – stay close to Nadhim Zahawi. The 39-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Aim-listed YouGov could well know what their populations are thinking, even before they have thought it themselves. That, anyhow, is the impression it is easy to form when you visit the Iraqi-born Mr Zahawi in his impressive glass-and-steel lair right at the heart of YouGov’s offices in a slightly edgy part of the City of London.

The corridor leading to the high-security part of the building where Mr Zahawi bases himself – when he is not on the way to or from airports, sitting in aircraft or staying in foreign hotels – is adorned with newspaper pages featuring articles using YouGov’s data.