The Byron Consort Choir of Harrow School is exacting in its choice of audience. It has sung for popes and for royalty — and the setting for its performance at Blenheim Palace one night last month was grand enough for either. Trumpeters manned the gates and candles led the way to the Long Library where one long table was set for 175. Pol Roger’s Winston Churchill champagne was served and a Churchill descendant, Nicholas Soames MP, was supplied to speak about his grandfather. But guests had paid their £5,000-a-head ticket not for the music, the Churchillian speeches or even the dazzling setting but for an even more exclusive experience: an audience with David and Samantha Cameron.
Never was so much donated by so few. In one night, no less than £500,000 was raised for the Conservative party, smashing all records for a fundraising dinner party.
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