The weekend saw two disconnected but parallel pieces of news or information appearing on-line. The news that our Foreign Secretary has travelled to the USA to meet with Deputy President Mike Pence has been over shadowed by the claim that his real objective was to persuade the President to change his policy over Iran by appearing on several TV programmes and writing an article in the New York Times including the suggestion that if Trump resolves Iran and the Korean issues, that somehow the Nobel prize will be Donald’s next success! On so many fronts this is deeply concerning. Did Mr Johnson ask to meet the President and was denied, or did he lack the confidence that he would get the opportunity to do so and chose a technique that twitter indicates has worked for other people. At one level any form of appeal is worthwhile, on another dismissing the special relationship for a media based campaign is deeply disturbing. To imply influence or even insight into the highly secretive Nobel committees is also unsustainable. However whilst Boris has been using the press and broadcasters in the USA to reach out to the President of the USA, his diary has been added to by the Conservative Party as it seeks to raise funds for the next and possibly impending General Election. The emails states:

“At Conservative Way Forward over the past few months we have been working tirelessly to support those engaged in the struggle to save their Council from the hard left forces who now control the Labour Party both nationally and increasingly locally…..But now, as we enjoy the Bank Holiday sun, we are pleased to announce that CWF are throwing our annual summer party on Wednesday 6th June with very special guest, Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP and we’d love you to join us.

We are thrilled to be welcoming Boris Johnson who will be networking amongst guests and giving a speech. The Foreign Secretary is a leading member of Cabinet and one of the Conservative Party’s most famous faces. His glittering career began in journalism. Starting off at the Times and the Telegraph….. Our Summer Party is a fantastic opportunity to come and hear from him, giving a speech in his own inimitable style.
There are two types of ticket available:
A standard ticket will gain you entry to the Summer Party with canapes and wine.
A VIP ticket will gain you entry to the exclusive three course dinner following the party with a private welcome from the Foreign Secretary and the chance to mingle with key Members of Parliament.”

The canapes and wine party will cost a mere £75 and the VIP dinner £250. Small change for the sort of people the party wants to attract to support it and a long way short of the £160,000 that Lubov Chernukhin, the banker wife of Russia’s former deputy finance minister paid to play tennis with Mr Johnson following the party’s auction in 2014 to prepare for the 2015 election.

It is hard to imagine statesmen taking these various steps, but perhaps this is how our world of politics is now managed, ensuring that senior politicians remain out of reach from the ordinary people or the very powerful, but instead focusing on the areas where they can make the most impact without the risk of being rejected or ignored by either Presidents or the public.