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UK MPs guzzle 6,000 bottles of gin

Bars in the UK’s House of Commons sold MPs and their guests £69,333-worth (US$86,700) of spirits in the 2015/16 year, including more than 6,000 bottles of Gordon’s Gin.

According to a freedom of information request, MPs, their staff and guests consumed £1.8 million-worth of alcohol last year

The astonishing total was revealed following a freedom of information (FOI) request from UK newspaper The Mirror.

It found that Parliament’s total alcohol bill tripled in just 24 months to £1.8 million (US$2.2m) for the year that included both a general election and the UK’s referendum on EU membership.

Wondering why your MP exhibited some muddled thinking last year? According to the FOI, in addition to the gin haul MPs also quaffed 1,685 bottles of Smirnoff vodka, 600 bottles of Pimm’s, 499 bottles of Famous Grouse Scotch whisky and 96 bottles of Irish cream liqueur Baileys – more than enough to result in some foggy heads for those morning debates.

The thirsty public servants also indulged in 42,711 bottles of fine wine and Champagne, and 300 bottles of port.

Meanwhile Parliament’s beer fans sank more than 6,000 pints of Carling, 4,947 bottles of Peroni, nearly 5,000 pints of Grolsch, 4,000 pints of Guinness, 2,000 pints of Coors Light and 16,122 pints of guest ales.

Despite the tremendous totals, a Commons spokesperson told The Mirror that sales to external customers accounted for more than half of alcohol sales in the past two years.

But that still suggests our 650 elected MPs and their teams ran up a bar bill of £900,000 (US$1.1m) over the course of just one year.

In August 2016 the same government backed proposed guidelines that claim there is “no safe level” of alcohol consumption.

 

 

 

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