12 January 2024 , 15:08
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The Government spent almost £27,000 topping up its vast collection of fine wine in the two years covering the Covid pandemic, new figures show.
The figure is contained in a long-delayed stock-count published by the Foreign Office of bottles stored in the wine cellar at Lancaster House. The report revealed that in 2020 to 2021, at the height of the Covid crisis, £14,621 was splashed out on 516 bottles of red Bordeaux wines, costing around £28 each.
In 2021 to 2022, a thirst for English and Welsh sparkling wines saw the Government spend £12,356 on topping up its cellar with 636 bottles, including 180 magnums, at an average cost of £19. It also bought 18 bottles of gin, and four bottles each of whisky and liqueurs.
The report showed that the Government's consumption of wine dropped by some 96% in 2020 to 2021, as expected, given the curbs on indoor gatherings and international travel during the pandemic. Nevertheless, 130 bottles of wine were drunk that year.
It rose the following year to 1,303 bottles of wines and spirits, but consumption still remained nearly 61% lower than pre-pandemic levels. As a comparison, some 3,300 bottles were polished off in 2019 to 2020. According to the report, as of March 2022, the Government's wine cellar contained 32,301 bottles of wine and spirits with an estimated total value of £3.66million.
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Before Covid, the cellar was "self-financed" through sales of stock and payments from Government departments for events. But sales were not possible in the pandemic years covered in the latest report, only resuming in 2022.
The collection is meant to "provide guests of the Government, from home and overseas, with wines of appropriate quality at reasonable cost". It was established in 1908 and is located in the basement of Lancaster House in Whitehall.
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said in a written statement: "All events organised by Government Hospitality during this period were done so in strict accordance with Covid-19 restrictions." The publication of the stock list was initially expected in early 2023, but was repeatedly postponed.
But Labour's shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: "For months we have asked why the Government was suppressing the publication of this report, and now we know the answer. While the rest of the country was facing Covid restrictions and a cost-of-living crisis, the Government was getting through 1,433 bottles from its wine cellar, and replenishing the stocks with a net spend of more than £100,000 over the three years from 2019-22. They lived the high life at taxpayers' expense while the rest of the country struggled, and it will never be forgotten."