Coffee at Number 10

I was invited to Number Ten this morning for coffee.

I turned up for 10:30 with only two minutes to spare. I went through the x-ray hut, then across the street up to the big door, which was open. I put my mobile in the cabinet, and took a ticket. Then sat on a big old (and rough) chesterfield sofa, just to the side of the main lobby, the one with the black and white tiles. There were some big Ikea-like boxes propped up in the corner, and some workmen wandering around in jeans, coming out of small doors in the wall.

I noticed the chipped woodwork, dirty paintwork – and mum would have been horrified at the dust around the banisters …and a phone cable tacked to the wall, rough corners of the carpet…

I imagined my meeting would be in a small scruffy office. But the PM’s senior press secretary came to collect me, I vaguely recognised him, but couldn’t remember where we had met…

He gave me a quick tour of the State rooms, Margaret’s private office where she held her meetings – a smart small library with a striking, rather too life-like, newly-hung portrait of her at one end. “We got that out as soon as we got in”. He pointed out the six bees carved one in each of the bookcases, to represent Tony and his family members. Apparently everyone leaves a mark in that room. The small dining room, which was very elegant – art deco, with a fireplace under a window, like in the Isle of Wight. An amazing long horizontal turquoise clock on the mantlepiece. The main dining room had modern silver candelabras on the table, and silverware displayed on the sideboards.

We had our meeting in the Terracotta Room, one of two main state sitting rooms, huge with two beautiful Turners either side of the fireplace, a Hogarth of St Paul’s over the fire, and some French and English paintings. We sat on smart settees in the middle of the room with a coffee table in the middle, tea, coffee, no biscuits.

We chatted about my bid to bring the Gay Games to London in 2018, what I had done so far, my experiences of Cologne, what my vision was for London. He asked me what he could do. I requested that Number Ten hold a reception for the medal winners. “What else?” Well, City Hall are dragging their feet a little, I really need to secure a date where I can hold a public meeting in January, for the launch.

We walked down the curving staircase, the yellow walls and black and white portraits of the Prime Ministers. Tony’s photo had just gone up, apparently he had taken ages in choosing which one to hang.
Gordon wasn’t hung yet – and they would have to move them all down and around to get it to fit – there didn’t look like enough room.

I was there an hour and a quarter. When I came out tourists took my photo leaving, I said ‘goodnight’ to the policeman, and scooted back to work.

Number 10

I was very pleased to get an email from Downing Street today. I called straight away – it’s a strange sensation telephoning Number 10 for the first time. I spoke with the PM’s press secretary who was keen to hear what I was up to, and he invited me for coffee next week, to talk about the bid’s communication strategy. Support at this level will put the London Bid in such a strong position. I’m very excited to get some advice from experts like this, and to walk up to that big black door!

Launch announced

I announced the bid to host the London 2018 Gay Games to the press on Friday lunchtime. Within minutes the news had gone around the world, and was being published on sites like The Pink Paper and Advocate (in the US), which was great! I’m hoping the BBC will publish the story too – seeing as this is the largest sporting event in the world!
Soon after publishing the story, I heard that the senior press secretary to Nº10 was trying to get hold of a list of UK Medal Winners. I too had been trying to get hold of this for a couple of days, to incorporate into my press release announcing the launch. I looked on the Cologne web site, but the information wasn’t clear, so I emailed Emy (president of FGG), she’ll sort it out!
The I heard from the office of Tessa Jowell (the MP who got the Olympics Bid off the ground in the UK). She agreed to meet so I could learn what she went through. I’m really looking forward to that conversation, it should be really interesting. I’m reading the Mike Lee book about the Olympic Bid at the moment…
I biked down to a very rainy Swindon and Wiltshire Pride yesterday, though the company was very warm. What great guys in Swindon! I went out for a meal with some of them in the evening, they seemed just as fired up about the Gay Games bid as me!