Party at Damaged British Consulate

New York, NY —

There was a party last night at the British consulate on Third Avenue, just hours after the explosions yesterday morning. WNYC's Judith Kampfner reports that attendees were relaxed as they celebrated Tony Blair's winning of a historic third term as prime minister.

Although police guided guests to a side entrance, security wasn't tight - there were no bag or id checks - just names crossed of a list. British and American guests were in relaxd party moord. Not many too much notice of the tv screens documenting the election results. That echoed the apathetic response in Britain to the election campaign. And there was little concern or conjecture about the bombs. The majority of people at the party wondered if this was the work of a disgruntled individual objecting to Tony Blair's allegiance to America in Iraq.

The British Consul-General , Sir Philip Thomas, said he momentarily had considered calling off the party, but he and Mayor Bloomburg had decided on a policy of business as usual. Nasty stuff happens, he said with a shrug. For WNYC, I'm, Judith Kampfner.