When I saw David at a recent Chelsea he was looking happy and with good reason. He was sitting in a splendid George III hall porter’s chair which W.R. Harvey had just bought back from a customer to whom they had sold it 25 years ago.It sold again immediately.
Returning to politics (not that the fairs world does not have its own fair share of politicking) David put his name forward as prospective Tory MP for Witney in 1999 when the sitting member Shaun Woodward defected to Labour. He was not selected on that occasion, but does the antique dealer harbour any further political ambitions? “Who knows what the future will bring?” he said teasingly.
If he does take to professional politics he will already have a chum at Tory Central Office. Victoria Borwick, who until last year organised the Fine Art and Antiques Fairs at Olympia, where David Harvey regularly exhibits, is now firmly ensconced as the party’s head of fundraising and marketing. David is sure to bump into her at the Tory Party Conference in late October.
Harvey happy to be in hot seat
WITNEY specialist in fine period furniture David Harvey, head of W.R.Harvey & Co, was recently re-elected for a second term as mayor of the Oxfordshire town (having had one year out of office) but is not cutting down on his busy trading schedule, starting with manning his customary stand at the 97th Chelsea Antiques Fair from September 17 to 22.