There is only one word for the independent report into Jeremy Newmark and the JLC: shocking.

The sums involved are shocking. And the cover-up is shocking. The panel make a number of severe and well-merited criticisms of the trustees involved; they will have to explain their behaviour.

But it is important to remember that there is only one villain to this story.

The trustees were misguided — to put it mildly — in thinking that it would be best for the JLC and the community if they made good any losses and kept the affair quiet. But they did at least mean well.

Mr Newmark, however, maintains to this day that he has done nothing wrong beyond “some administrative processes and procedures”.

No one who reads the report, with its tales of cash withdrawals, payments into personal bank accounts, thousands of pounds of expenses unaccounted for and tens of thousands of unexplained missing funds, will share his view.

Mr Newmark is one of the most gifted political strategists of his generation. Had he received 1658 more votes in the 2017 election, he would be the current MP for Finchley and Golders Green.

But it is clear from this report that he must never again have any role in public life. He cannot remain as a councillor, let alone as leader of the Labour group on Hertsmere Council.

As for the JLC, it has had a different leadership from 2013 and those leaders deserve praise for reacting to our story last year with openness and transparency. They commissioned the report and have published it in full, damaging though it is to the reputations of some of the community’s leading figures.

This is a sordid tale of one man’s venality. But it should, hopefully, confirm that openness will always be prized across our community.