Diary – 16 June 2006

I feel something of a gooseberry as Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher sit snugly side by side on a sofa in the upstairs room of The Ivy. They are sort of flirting, bonding over old times and cold climes as the magic of their relationship is quickly rekindled. At one moment they clutch each other’s hands, giggling at how they fought their corners in their early talks at Chequers. It is moving to see such intimacy and warmth between these two old titans who together with Ronald Reagan literally changed the world. My fellow hosts, Evgeny and Alexander Lebedev, and I all fade into the background as the Iron Lady and Gorby really only have eyes for each other. At 80 she has lost none of her predilection for scoring points, a sort of political love-badinage. ‘Of course, it’s a good idea: it’s science,’ she harrumphed. This was a dinner organised for Gorby the night before the launch of his cancer charity founded in his widow Raisa’s name.