With Barack Obama seemingly set fair for the White House, attention is turning to the baubles that the new administration will have in its gift – most notably the appointment of a new Ambassador to the Court of St James’s. Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of JFK, is in the frame but “well-placed sources” are actively floating a more unlikely candidate – Oprah Winfrey.

The theory goes that the media mogul and philanthropist, a prominent Obama backer, is ready to step back from her television duties and wants to perform a greater public service for her country.

“It could be a perfectly sensible appointment,” says Peter Jay, the former BBC economics editor who was Britain’s Ambassador to the United States during the Carter presidency. “You need someone who is close enough to the president to interpret events and get a message back to Washington. It would send a clear message about the new administration.”

Invitations to Winfield House, the ambassador’s Regent’s Park residence, would be keenly sought. Although the 12-acre estate would surely be renamed Winfrey House.

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