Frank Luntz had just walked for 17 minutes in the rain from Tony Blair’s office near Bond Street, London to a modern French restaurant off Marylebone High Street. His grey-flecked beard was wet as he took off his blue jacket, sat down and looked at the menu. After a pause, he asked with a hint of contempt: “What is Rossini?”
America’s best-known pollster, famous for his political punditry and support for Republican causes, was not happy there. The people next to us were loud and it wasn’t the type of restaurant he would usually frequent. “I eat steak. I eat spaghetti Bolognese. I eat like a child,” Luntz, 60, told me. “I’m as likely to have a chicken and sweetcorn sandwich from Tesco as I am to have anything else.”
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
