As a sometime student of propaganda within the US, it is clear that the same guys who carefully focus-group every aspect of the fantasy that they create to be the media's "reality,"  never think to focus-group anything when dealing outside the US.  

As you more succinctly put it, machiavels in their own country, they are clueless suckers of the conmen in the larger world.  

Of course, the Brits don't care that the polonium story is bogus (the story, not the polonium), because they think they can use it as a tool against Russia.  They don't realize how much control they have already lost, and that Russia is the least of their problems . . .

The shadow world of half-secret, half-public /half-private  operators is the future the neo-cons would create for us, and will create if they are not disrupted or evaded.  Basically, they are vampires, and should be exposed to sunlight and a wooden stake through the heart.  

The Fates are kind.