Pollard on the Eurostar

Stephen Pollard's had a bad experience with a mouthy civil servant on the Eurostar:

It's not clever to speak loudly about Gordon, Alistair and Yvette wanting something, arguing about something else and then agreeing to it because you persuaded them. The rest of the carriage weren't impressed by you. In fact we thought you a total twit - especially when you then started shouting at your assistant on the phone. And when you called (I assume) your wife and started discussing your oh-so-important trip to Geneva.

What is it with people who have to share their self-importance with the rest of the world? I suppose it's connected with the same thing that ownership of flash cars is said to be connected with...