The White House Correspondents’ Association weekend kicked off in spectacular style on Friday night with a celebration at the British embassy, hosted in conjunction with the Daily Mail and PR firm Brunswick.
Sir Christian Turner, the British ambassador, threw open the doors of his lavish residence to welcome media moguls and influencers, tech and business leaders, diplomats and DC movers and shakers.
Pointing to the power of the Daily Mail’s ‘seriously popular’ journalism, Sir Christian, the former high commissioner to Pakistan, had guests giggling with the story of how in November 2022 his mother-in-law, who he described as an avid Daily Mail reader, rang him to tell him that Pakistan’s then-prime minister, Imran Khan, had been shot.
Sir Christian, ‘staggering home’ at the end of an intense day of crisis diplomacy over the attempted assassination, said his mother-in-law rang to make sure he’d seen the news, because it was ‘all over the Daily Mail.’
And with Fox News hosts Harris Faulkner and Brian Kilmeade, CNN chairman Sir Mark Thompson and top reporters from all major media companies listening on, Sir Christian said that the work of journalists had never been more important.
‘The Founding Fathers of this amazing country established the First Amendment as a bedrock of America,’ he said. ‘Freedom of speech is not a luxury. It is the foundation of democracy.’
He said ‘the right to speak your mind’ was ‘at the heart’ of the British and American nations.
The ambassador noted that, with King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving on Monday for their eagerly anticipated state visit – the first by a British monarch in almost 20 years – there could not be a better moment to celebrate Anglo-American relations.
The White House Correspondents’ Association weekend kicked off in spectacular style on Friday night with a celebration at the British embassy
The party was hosted in conjunction with the Daily Mail and PR firm Brunswick
Sir Christian Turner, the British ambassador, opened the doors of his lavish residence for the party
Guests roamed throughout the jewel of Embassy Row
‘It’s been quite a year, and it’s about to get busier,’ he said, pointing also to the celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.
Henry Timms, the CEO of Brunswick, joked that the spectacular gardens must have been pruned to perfection for Friday night’s crowd, with the impending Royal visit an added bonus.
And Kelly Laco, executive editor of politics for the Daily Mail, declared that the evening was ‘sure to be the talk of the town’ – especially given the team’s recent string of scoops.
‘Even though the Daily Mail has British roots, our DC team is dominating coverage on everything rocking Washington, rattling the White House, and setting tongues wagging on Capitol Hill,’ she said.
‘In a city defined by power and personalities, the Daily Mail’s DC bureau has built a newsroom that doesn’t just follow the story.
‘We break it, shape it, and, when necessary, challenge it – as many of you here tonight may have experienced.’
Many of political aides, diplomats and Cabinet staffers raised wry eyebrows.
But then it was on to the party, with a DJ spinning the tunes on the terrace in front of the stately mansion.
Guests including Mark Halperin, Scott Jennings and Dr Mehmet Oz, the TV presenter turned Medicaid and Medicare administrator, sipped on DC Insiders, a cocktail created specially for the night, commemorating the launch of the Daily Mail’s must-read weekly politics newsletter. Combining honeyed bourbon and orange marmalade, the DC Insider was the textbook tipple for an Anglo-American soiree.
Three bars were spread throughout the chandeliered entertaining rooms, allowing the hundreds of guests to roam throughout the jewel of Embassy Row.
Bow-tied servers circulated with roast beef canapes and mini crab cakes, and a chef on the terrace served up platters of the ambassador’s twist on fish and chips – caviar on fries.
Faulkner, elegant in a white pant suit, told the Daily Mail she was ‘blessed’ to be invited to such a soiree.
Indeed, the embassy, built in 1931 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, truly set the standard to the US capital. Lutyens, widely seen as the greatest British architect of the 20th Century, was also responsible for building much of New Delhi, and creating a series of war memorials and British country houses.
Kelly Laco, executive editor of politics for the Daily Mail, declared that the evening was ‘sure to be the talk of the town’
Fox News host Harris Faulkner told the Daily Mail she was ‘blessed’ to be invited to such a soiree
Guests including Scott Jennings (pictured) sipped on DC Insiders, a cocktail created specially for the night
When he began building his sole project in the United States, no other embassies were in the area.
Lutyens gave the residence an imposing Queen Anne façade, and designed it to echo a British country estate.
Now it is filled with spectacular works of art, ranging from an Andy Warhol screenprint of the King’s mother, Elizabeth II, to a giant Grayson Perry tapestry and Damien Hirst’s 1994 dots, Pardaxin.
It was indeed the perfect setting for a media and political party.
Sir Christian raised his glass at the end to toast ‘the journalists who keep us honest, the advisors who keep us sane, and the sponsors who keep us libated.’
