A note on Mark Towhey: I've come to the conclusion that Towhey is clever, moderately charming, occasionally quite funny and certainly a good strategist; however, I also think he is a terrible human being whose righteous conduct (i.e. going to the police about the video and the surrounding events/threats etc.) is motivated less by a desire to do the right thing, and far more by a desire to ensure that the good ship Towhey doesn't take on more water than the captain can bail out.
So, yep: despite having some redeeming features, Towhey is an mercenary, vain and cynical man who took - and takes! - great pride in having helepd propel Ford into the mayor's office. He has always been too coy by half on the subject of what he knew about Ford and when, especially Ford's serial drink-driving; anyone questioning him on that last one is likely to get a response that is long on diversionary unpleasantness and short on facts.
