With British wit and charm, Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald toasted his holiday reception for British and American journalists by making light of the year’s past bad press.
“It has been a year in which, at least, the British journalists have managed not only to report the U.K. news, but also occasionally to make it,” Sheinwald said. “They’ve earned more than one rebuke from the White House. I don’t really salute you, but I’ve already encouraged you to keep on with that.”
The ambassador’s comments alluded to negative coverage by the British media on White House protocol during Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first visit to President Obama this summer and left many in the room reflecting on those tacky gifts direct from our White House. (Does that infamous Hollywood Classic DVD set — not functional in Great Britain or suitable for a legally blind prime minister — ring a bell?)
But is the embassy still miffed about some strains in U.S.-U.K. relations?
English-American journalist and Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens told Yeas & Nays, “He wouldn’t have said it if it was true.”
