Photo of Lord John Browne courtesy of Google Images
And the two men were liberally helping themselves from a £3,000 bottle of claret.
The wine was the personal choice of Lord Browne of Madingley - the boss of British Petroleum, Britain's most senior businessman and host of the dinner party in question.
"Mr Blair didn't know what it was but he absolutely loved it," Mr Chevalier recalls. "It was a 1983 French claret."
Lord Browne had originally met Mr Chevalier through a male escort agency; now the pair were partners.
The tycoon had installed the young Canadian in his £5million Chelsea apartment and was showing him off to the cream of London society.
The cosy dinner for Tony Blair in the summer of 2005 came amid a seemingly endless merry-go-round of dinners, lunches, soirees and parties that Mr Chevalier was summoned to by his tycoon lover, 34 years his senior.
He was flaunted before business and political contacts, diplomats and artists; there were holidays in private compounds in Barbados and opera in Salzburg and Venice (enjoyed alongside Prince and Princess Michael of Kent in their private box).
In Venice, Mr Chevalier would find himself chinking glasses with Elton John and Jude Law.
Travel would routinely be by private jet - which the businessman appeared to regard as a private plaything.
Today [May 6, 2007], in an exclusive interview in The Mail on Sunday, Jeff Chevalier gives a stunning account of the extravagance of life at the top of BP. The true story about Lord Browne – by ex-rent boy lover (Read on) By Dennis Rice
Mark Alexander
