Influencial Film director Tim Burke talks to Tony Blair at the Ark Busson Charity Fundraiser.

Influencial Film director Tim Burke talks to Tony Blair at the Ark Busson Charity Fundraiser.

Cherie Blair joins A-list at £25m charity gala

We may be in the grip of a global credit crisis, but try telling that to the celebrities and City slickers who raised more than £25 million at London's most glamorous charity gala.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie joined the likes of Jemima Khan, Elizabeth Hurley, Trudie Styler, Bob Geldof, David Bailey, the Duchess of York and Uma Thurman at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich on Thursday night.
Mr Blair was the keynote speaker, joking in his opening comments that he was probably the only person in the room who had got richer in the last year.
His wife stood out from the crowd in an Indian-inspired red salwar kameez as she posed for pictures with the assembled A-listers.
The Blairs were among the 1,000 guests at a dinner in aid of Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), a children's charity set up by Arpad 'Arki' Busson, the multi-millionaire French financier who previously dated Elle Macpherson, the model, and is now stepping out with Miss Thurman, the Hollywood actress.
Tables at the event cost up to £100,000 each and the majority were occupied by traders, managers and bankers from London's hedge fund community.

·         ARK charity gala

06 Jun 2008

Guests arrived by riverboat to the strains of a gospel choir, as painted acrobats performed on the lawns.
The menu by Tom Aikens, the renowned chef, featured baby Italian artichokes with black Piedmont truffle, followed by black cod, truffle ice-cream and bespoke hand-crafted chocolates, washed down with Veuve Clicquot. Stevie Wonder provided the music.
The fundraising target for the evening was £15 million but exceeded all expectations, raising a total of £25.5 million. It was the second highest figure for a single night of charity fundraising in Europe - the record is held by Ark's 2007 gala, which made £26.8 million.
This year's figure included an auction with lots including a role in Miss Thurman's next film (which sold for £450,000), a Fiat Cinquecento customised by artist Tracey Emin (£200,000) and a shooting party at Mulgrave Castle in North Yorkshire (£350,000).
Most expensive lot of the night was a seven-foot, heart-shaped butterfly painting by Damien Hirst which fetched £900,000 after a heated bidding war. Other items included a trip to Paris Fashion Week to meet designer Karl Lagerfeld and a flight by private jet to pick up cases of wine from a vineyard in Bordeaux.
Busson, 45, chairman of hedge fun EIM, acknowledged the economic downturn. "Last year everyone was worried about an eventual slowdown. This year it's real," he said. "It's in the moment of the crunch that giving is even more important because we have to stretch every dollar."
He told the assembled guests: "We are keepers of the world's wealth. It's our responsibility to come together and give to our common humanity."
The financier founded Ark six years ago. The charity helps to transform the lives of children in the UK, Europe and the Third World through healthcare and education.

Tim Burke with celebrity shoe designer Patric cox.