On Tuesday, as London sweltered, The Mace hosted a private speaker lunch for 22 public affairs senior team members, ranging from AstraZeneca to Aviva. With the mercury nudging 34 degrees, we lost just two guests in the morning on account of the club’s strict dress code. One notable arrival who was certainly not put off by the tropical heat, resplendent in a smart Savile Row suit and tie after a meeting in Westminster, was Tristan Breijer.

“I speak Trump”, says Macdowell. “No problem is too big or too complex for Checkmate to solve.”

Breijer has been busy in the last month or so – with some help from Coulson Partners – setting up a new London office for Checkmate Government Relations, the leading Washington DC-based public affairs agency founded by Charles “Ches” F. McDowell IV, friend of the Trump family and MAGA insider, who has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “Washington’s hottest new lobbyist”.

Due to McDowell’s unparalleled access to the Trump administration and connections to the Donald’s inner circle (“I speak Trump,” he told me in an exclusive interview we are running in our summer issue), McDowell has also been listed in the Washington Post’s recent special report on the US’s top 50 influencers “Shaping Our Society in 2026”.

MAGA Man in Full

McDowell is a personal friend of Don Trump Jr – both are keen hunter sportsmen. Their friendship – the relationship is strictly personal, not political – was forged from first going bear-hunting together in North Carolina in a three-day adventure straight out of Tom Wolfe’s novel A Man in Full. They now own a southern hunting estate together.

That Checkmate Government Relations has chosen London to be its fourth new global office, run by Breijer – who has lived much of his life in London – is an intriguing and welcome development as it confirms that, for all the talk of the US-UK “special relationship” being on the rocks, the reality is more complex.

Breijer, who will be Checkmate’s “Senior Advisor, UK and EU”, has extensive experience at Westminster, the European Parliament and UN convention processes, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Checkmate’s latest move suggests that Britain and America still enjoy strong trade and tech ties, especially in sectors like defence. At our speaker lunch, Breijer made it clear there were plenty of unmined “foreign investment” opportunities into the UK that Checkmate could help facilitate.

Political games without frontiers 

The move into London for Checkmate gives the US lobby firm its first European base, bringing its global power-broking network – it has offices in Asia, the Middle-East and Latin America – to the “heart of European and multilateral policymaking”. Breijer and his team – I hear they are looking to make some key hires, including a former minister – will serve clients and companies across the UK as well as being a gateway into the EU and other “international multilateral institutions”.

The new London office will offer the firm’s full range of services, including public affairs, government relations, regulatory strategy, political intelligence, and crisis and reputation counsel.

The opening of the London office is just the latest bold step for McDowell, who tells me that, like Trump, his family has Scottish roots and that he is an avowed Anglophile, despite never having stepped foot in the Houses of Parliament or spent much time in London. But don’t think McDowell’s lack of hands-on Westminster lobby experience, or his comparative young age of 36, is going to be any sort of obstacle to Checkmate making a seismic impact across government affairs.

“Our clients operate in an increasingly complex international environment, and they need a firm that can move with them across the globe,” says McDowell. “The London office completes our transatlantic platform and gives us the European and multilateral presence our clients have been asking for. No problem is too big or too complex for Checkmate to solve.”

Founded just three years ago, Checkmate is one of the fastest-growing political lobby firms in the world, with more than 100 clients across healthcare, financial services, defence, energy, technology, pharmaceuticals and professional sports, including Binance, the government of Panama, Reliance Industries, UPS, the NFL and Salesforce.

“London is one of the world’s foremost centres for international diplomacy, finance and regulatory policymaking,” says Breijer. “Our new office gives Checkmate clients direct access to decision-makers at Westminster, in the European institutions, and across the multilateral bodies that shape global policy – combining that reach with the firm’s unparalleled relationships in Washington.”

“Companies and governments are navigating a more intricate political and regulatory environment than at any point in recent memory” he adds. “UK and European clients increasingly need partners who can deliver joined-up strategies across multiple jurisdictions; not least in Washington, where Checkmate has built an unmatched operation in a remarkably short space of time. I am delighted to be opening that capability in London and look forward to working with clients who need clarity, access and results.”

To be strictly accurate, Breijer has not yet moved into a new London office yet as he is still looking for the right space. But he can be found most days operating out of a leather armchair and desk in the Carlton Club in St James’s which he is using as temporary corporate digs. Nice bar and canteen as well.