To celebrate Spectator Life‘s fourth birthday, London’s literati, politicians and fashionistas joined Toby Young and Andrew Neil at Belgraves, a Thompson hotel, to raise a glass to the magazine’s success.
As guests including Olivia Grant, Rachel Johnson and Nicky Haslam munched on beef and prawn sliders and sipped lychee and rose bellinis, George Galloway told Miss S about his time on his campaign bus as part of his London mayoral bid, ‘The bus is ours,’ he said. ‘We’ll be on it everyday of the campaign, and after.’
Happily Labour’s Jess Phillips, who has clashed with Galloway in the past, managed to avoid a run-in with the Respect politician at the Belgravia bash. Chatting with guests, the former Spectator Life cover girl offered a hint as to her secret to looking good: McDonald’s. Despite Labour’s NEC banning the fast food chain from having a stall at this year’s party conference, Phillips says she is a regular customer thanks to their quarter pounder burger. ‘I’ve eaten there this week,’ she told Steerpike. ‘My children eat there most weeks.’
By the time it was dessert — mini treacle tarts and eclairs — guests including Helen Lederer and ITV’s Robert Peston were still out on the dancefloor. More information about Belgraves — the co-host for the party — can be found on their website.
Here are a selection of photos from the event, courtesy of Dave Bennett:
Rachel Johnson and Robert Peston
Olivia Grant and Fraser Nelson
Olivia Grant
Toby Young
George Galloway
Charlotte Spencer
Andrew Neil and Rigel Mowatt
Nicky Haslam
Camilla Rutherford
Nicholas Watt, Andrew Neil and Julia Hartley Brewer
George Galloway and Putri Gayatri Pertiwi
Heather Kerzner
Fraser Nelson and Geordie Greig
Ed Taylor and Astrid Harbord
Zafar Rushdie
Rachel Johnson
Nicky Haslam and Andrew Neil
