British Press Awards

I haven't had time since Tuesday to blog about an excellent evening spent courtesy of Finsbury PR at the British Press Awards.

I sat between the Daily Telegraph's Business Editor, Richard Fletcher, who I hadn't seen since he covered Betfair in around 2004; and Finsbury's very own Jim Murgatroyd, who I first had the pleasure of meeting at the inaugural match of the IPL two years ago.

For most, the highlight of an evening which unsurprisingly saw the Daily Telegraph sweep the boards as a result of their expenses scandal story was a welcome speech by Boris Johnson, in which he congratulated the press for having vanquished the political class; and suggested that as victors, they ought now to reveal all their own expenses with the same openness that they had championed. He was very entertaining.

But for me, the naming of Iain Dey of the Sunday Times as Business and Finance Journalist of the Year was particularly memorable. Iain was one of the first journalists to fish me out for a coffee to talk about Betfair, way back in around 2001 when he was at Scotland on Sunday.

I'm not sure he looks any older than he did then; but he's clearly become significantly more important... Good job I agreed to go!