Prepare for a Kennedy at the Court of St James's

Tim Walker, Telegraph UK

If Barack Obama makes it to the White House, Britain seems set to have its first Kennedy as American Ambassador to the Court of St James's since JFK's father, Joe.

Mandrake hears that it will be payback for Caroline Kennedy JFK's only surviving child and a power broker in the Democratic Party, for being such an enthusiastic cheerleader for Obama.

"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," she declared. "But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president – not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

I am told that Miss Kennedy, 50, who has three children by her husband Edwin Schlossberg, a designer, was instrumental in persuading Ted Kennedy to back Obama, which was seen as the moment his campaign achieved critical mass. Obama is the first presidential candidate that Miss Kennedy has endorsed since she backed her uncle Ted's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 1980.

The day after Obama became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in June, he appointed her to his Vice-Presidential Search Committee.

She has contributed financially to Obama's campaign, having earlier contributed to Hillary Clinton's.

She will follow in the dubious footsteps of her colourful grandfather, Joseph, an arch-appeaser of Hitler who committed political sucide when, in 1940, he declared: "Democracy is finished in England, it may be here (in the USA)."

Mandrake hopes that if she does bag London, Miss Kennedy will make good use of the entertaining space at the American ambassador's official residence, Winfield House in Regent's Park. I haven't been to a really good party there since the jovial Phil Lader's tour of duty came to an end in 2001.