Posted December 23, 200717 yr When the supposedly dour Presbyterian Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, it was widely anticipated that Whitehall would be a more sober place, with the emphasis on relentless hard work. But a secret list of the fine wines and liqueurs consumed at Government banquets and receptions shows it has been a vintage year for Labour Ministers, if not for taxpayers who had to pick up the bill. Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday show that as Mr Brown's ratings plunged, Ministers were drinking £200 bottles of Bordeaux, the finest champagne and port at £90 a bottle. The documents reveal for the first time how Ministers are supplied with fine wines from the Government's 40,000-bottle cellar - and how tastings are organised to pick new vintages to keep the stock topped up. The details - which include minutes of meetings of the Government Hospitality Advisory Committee since June, when Mr Brown became Prime Minister - show there has been no let-up in either the consumption or purchase of fine wines for functions at Downing Street, Chequers, the Foreign Office and elsewhere. In July, weeks after Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister, six bottles of Chateau Cheval Blanc 1988, worth about £200 a bottle, were polished off by Mr Brown or his Ministers and their guests. They also got through four bottles of Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste 1989, valued at £150 each, a case of Puligny Montrachet Champ Canet 1999 and two cases of Chassagne Montrachet Les Chenevottes 2000. A case of Pol Roger NV champagne, worth about £45 a bottle, lubricated another Ministerial summer party, and a bottle of vintage Dow's 1977 port, which costs £90, was also consumed in July. As Mr Brown dithered over whether or not to call a snap Election in the autumn, the wine continued to flow in Whitehall. September's list shows 16 bottles of Chateau Giscours 1986, a red Bordeaux, were consumed at £65 a time, plus dozens of cheaper "reception wines". See whole article here http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/a...in_page_id=1770 I'm all right Jack, seems to be the phrase I'm looking for :angry:
December 23, 200717 yr I'm all right Jack, seems to be the phrase I'm looking for :angry: The politics of envy seems to be the phrase i'm looking for ;) You can't expect MP's and diplomats and royal family and visiting heads of state and so on to be drinking bottles of £3 cheap Sainsbury's plonk
December 23, 200717 yr Given that it was already in the cellars, what should they have done with it? Flog it on e-Bay?
December 24, 200717 yr its always gone on, right or wrong, for many years...this isnt the domaine of brown alone. i agree with craig, you cant serve cheapo wine to diplomats.... or mp's.. however i suspect that there could be a cheaper way of supplying decent wine.
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