Philip Scott is an agent with British Intelligence.
The exact agency for whom he works is not specified although his section is known as Department K and there is a chance that is the bureau itself. Since we are told so little about the department, it could be assumed that it was highly secret and not known outside the intelligence community.
As an agent of many years, he has learned to trust no one and to never let his emotions out. He was very good at it. But as his age reached the mid-to-late 30's, the aloneness weighed heavily on him and he started to think of life outside his work and people not in the espionage business.
As a cover for his real work, Scott ran a moderately successful business known as Anglo-European Novelties - Importers and Concessionaires. In such a line of work, visits to the Board of Trade, especially the Import and Export office was commonplace, convenient since that was where Department K operated and from where Scott took his orders. It also gave him a reason to make frequent trips to place all over Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain. Since his work was real, his reasons for going places was real and he was less likely to generate suspicion.
After many years of this travelling alone and relying only on himself, Scott was very tired. He was even tired of being Philip Scott, as that was not his real name. He lamented that he almost could not remember what his birthname had been, he had spent so much time under his alias. He might have continued for many more years in his unhappiness had he not met, just prior to the first adventure, the woman of his dreams. That is when his troubles really began.