Attending the reception at the British High Commission in Delhi & Bangalore
Tuesday evening, and we’re off to an evening reception at the British High Commission in Delhi. The official Downing Street Press group photo of the delegation with the PM was taken at this event and, much to my Head of Marketing’s dismay – I end up not in the picture!
I had to confess on email afterwards …“Dear Jennie. Ok here is the big confession. I’m not in the picture! We were meant to have the picture taken at 6.30pm. We were kept in a segregated area and our guests were on the other side of a rope. Eventually I went to find Mohan and Mahima beyond the rope. Benno Hilton UKTI PR came out to round up delegation ‘stragglers’ and I went back to my first position. No picture was taken for 30 minutes and then the rope dividing delegates and guests was removed, because so many guests were climbing under the rope to get to the bar! When I saw the rope was removed I popped out to get Mohan and Mahima.
I was gone two minutes!!!!!!! When I got back the crowd looked very much as it had been when I left and eventually I said to Alice (Racing Driver and delegate) “I wonder when they are going to take the picture?” She said “It happened about 15 minutes ago. It was all over in a moment!”…
On Thursday Feb 21st we attended a British High Commission reception at the Leela Hotel, Bangalore, hosted by Greg Barker, Minister for Business Engagement with India. There were only three of us who had been on the Mumbai/Delhi delegation. I went up to Greg and introduced him to Mohan. I said “Mohan would like to have his picture taken with you, as he says it will carry a much more powerful message in India than a picture with the Prime Minister”. Greg posed beautifully.
