In January President Obama’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Matthew Barzun, visited Northampton at my invitation, as many regular readers of this column may recall. He visited Kingsthorpe College to talk about America to the students and also went to the Guildhall where he met business and community leaders.
Ambassador Barzun was head of President Obama’s campaign fundraising team at the last Presidential Election and has been in charge of the safety and well-being of US citizens in the UK for the past three years, as one of the most senior diplomats in the world.
I am always keen to showcase Northampton to visiting politicians and influential people, so that we can continue developing our town, and increase our business links to the world.
While Ambassador Barzun was in Northampton he was interviewed by BBC Radio Northampton – and at the end of the interview he asked if he could have a BBC Radio Northampton coffee mug as a souvenir of his visit to the town. Apparently he has collected several such BBC regional mugs on his visits around the country in the past three years.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any mugs at the time, but since then the BBC have had some new mugs made. I therefore took the time to personally deliver this Northampton gift to Ambassador Barzun as a sign of friendship from our town, when I visited the American Embassy recently.
Mr Barzun was very pleased to receive this memento, and mentioned again how impressed he was by his visit to Northampton.