The catering had better be tip top at next week’s Board of Deputies dinner because one guest will be Albert Roux.

The legendary London chef (below) says most of his friends are Jewish and he is a fan of Jewish food. “I always feel privileged to be invited to Friday-night dinner, to put my little hat on and pass the wine,” he said. “Food cooked by Jewish mums, chicken soup and dumplings, I love it!”

An admirer, too, of Israel, he will be holidaying there later this month.

The Board’s guest speaker, King Abdullah of Jordan, has clearly proved an attraction, because another face you might not normally expect at a Board dinner is playwright, Sir Tom Stoppard.

Israeli Deputy PM Dan Meridor had also been due to appear but said the election campaign had prevented him coming — a diplomatic pretext as we understand the Jordanians were not happy to have an Israeli minister on the bill. But stand-in Eliyakim Rubinstein, Israel’s former Attorney General who helped craft its peace accord with Jordan, has pulled out because he is too busy chairing its national election committee