Trade minister Lord Green, Prudential chief Tidjane Thiam, Mayor Boris Johnson, Finsbury PR man Roland Rudd, publishing supremo Caroline Michel and various Indian dignitaries were at 11 Downing Street last night for the launch of Reconnecting Britain And India, a new book celebrating the relationship between the two countries.

Tory MP Jo Johnson, former Financial Times' Asia bureau chief and brother of Boris, is co-author and had to apologise for host George Osborne's absence. "Saving the eurozone from financial collapse is just about an acceptable excuse," Johnson told guests, explaining the Chancellor had gone to an emergency meeting of European finance ministers.

Green, former boss of HSBC, was at his most emollient as he wooed the Indian delegation: "If we look backwards, I do think we have taken the British-Indian relationship a little bit for granted." The Tories have made much of the fact David Cameron and Osborne went to India within 10 weeks of taking office whereas it took Gordon Brown 10 years.

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