"The joys of coming clean to the taxman" was the heading of Graham Turner's article in the Sunday Times, published on 7 June 2009, with the sub-heading "Former BBC journalist found unexpected benefits in kind when he admitted fiddling his expenses". Turner's experiment with honesty came after he encountered Initiatives of Change (then known as Moral Re-Armament), a relationship that has continued over the years.

Graham TurnerThe taxman’s face went white. He seemed at a loss for words. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he stammered: “We have no procedure for this.” He had seemed pleased to see me when I arrived. At the time, I was the BBC’s economics correspondent, and he may have thought I had come to ask for his advice. So when I confessed instead that I had been fiddling my taxes by understating my freelance earnings, he was totally thrown. He soon regained his equilibrium, however. “You are, of course,” he said, almost apologetically, “guilty of fraud.”

I was shocked by the word. I had never thought of myself as a fraudster, but I could hardly deny it. “We’ll need to see your tax returns for the past five years,” he added.

Driving home, I could not help thinking: “I’m being a good boy, so why do I feel so miserable?” Back came the answer, in my head: “Because you have to pay.”

I had gone to the Inland Revenue in Aylesbury, driven by an irresistible sense that it was high time to put my life in order. I was not doing well with our children; my temper was — at best — uncertain. I was fed up with myself. My wife had been delighted that I had decided to sort myself out but had never cared for the idea of me coming clean to the taxman. “You will go to prison,” she said. For once, I ignored her.

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