It’s the Roaring Twenties, but only for London’s elite

The canapés are covered in gold leaf, and so are the ballerinas. The champagne is unlimited, and we are surrounded by a thousand funerals-worth of flower arrangements. I’m at the launch of Raffles, at the Old War Office on Whitehall in central London, where the cheapest room will set you back more than a grand a night, the most expensive £25,000.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is here, and so is the Princess Royal. I don’t recognise many other faces in the crowd, beyond the politicians Gavin Williamson and Gillian Keegan, who look as awkward as I feel. I suspect many of the people here pay good money not to be recognised by people like me. The Uzbek ambassador introduces himself, and someone pours me more Laurent-Perrier.