Nigel Farage
In March 2011, at the UKIP spring conference in Scarborough, Farage used his appreciation for Spanish wine to assure delegates that despite his anti European Union politics he is not anti-Europe. He shouted “I love Europe. I have drunk more Rioja than most people alive!”
Reginald Maudling
On his return from one Northern Ireland visit, Maudling, home secretary during one of the worst periods of the Irish Troubles boarded the plane and declared: “For God’s sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country.” He was later sent a letter bomb by the IRA.
William Hague
Hague once declared that, as a teenager, while delivering soft drinks in South Yorkshire, he would sometimes drink 14 pints of beer a day. He was attempting to banish the straight-laced image he’d cultivated following his famous speech at Conservative Party conference, aged 16.
Bill Etherington
In February 2010, it was reported that Etherington (above) needed medical attention after partaking in a drinking ‘competition’ with fellow Labour MP Geraldine Smith. While he downed glasses of bubbly, Smith gave her share of the alcohol to a neighbouring pot plant.
Winston Churchill
Churchill once encountered MP Bessie Braddock as he was staggering through the Commons. She accused him of being drunk, to which he famously retorted: “Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.”
Mark Reckless
In July 2010, Mark got so drunk before a crucial vote on the Budget that he fell to the floor of a Commons bar, was bundled into a taxi and missed the vote. He subsequently said that he was “very embarrassed”, and did not remember falling over.
Herbert Asquith
The war-time prime minister often swayed on his feet when speaking in the Commons. He became the muse of a ditty-writer during World War I, when, “Mr Asquith says in a manner sweet and calm: Another little drink won’t do us any harm” wafted through the music halls.
William Pitt the Younger
In 1773, Pitt the Younger suffered an attack of gout. His doctor prescribed a curative bottle of port a day, and it became Pitt’s lifelong tipple. His friend Henry Addington once commented: “Mr Pitt liked a glass of port very well, and a bottle better.”
George Brown
Brown’s drink problem became publicly apparent when he went on TV to pay tribute to the assassinated John F Kennedy. Viewers saw him interpret a fair question as an accusation, then give a slurred tribute, from which it was apparent he was intoxicated.
Alan Clark
Following a wine tasting with friend Christopher Selmes, Clark took to the despatch box opposite Clare Short, who accused him of being incapable”. To date, Clark is the only MP to have been accused in the House of Commons of being drunk at the despatch box.
Comments
Alchie / December 27 2011 8:59pm
You forgot Charles Kennedy!