Government defends spending £27,000 on wine during Covid

Bottles gather dust in the government's wine cellar

The government has defended spending nearly £27,000 replenishing its wine cellar during the Covid pandemic.

The figure for 2020-22 was revealed in a Foreign Office report.

Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell said all events organised by Government Hospitality during this period were "in strict accordance with Covid-19 restrictions".

He highlighted figures from the report showing use of the cellar fell by 96% in 2020 to 2021.

Some 130 bottles were drunk during this period, compared with 3,336 in 2019 to 2020.

The figures increased between 2021 and 2022 to 1,303, but were still well below pre-pandemic levels.

The alcohol, stored in the basement of Lancaster House in central London, is given to guests of the government.

The wine cellar is expected to finance itself through sales of some of its high value stock and payments from other government departments.

However, sales were not possible during the pandemic, only resuming in 2022.

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A hospitality fund was originally set up in 1908 to provide for "high-level visiting overseas government guests and domestic guests".

In 1922 a committee was established to purchase alcohol and the Government Hospitality wine cellar was created.

After the outbreak of World War Two, the cellar was topped up with wines requisitioned from the German Embassy and for part of the conflict, some of the cellar was relocated to Warwickshire "for safe keeping".

A 2010 review concluded that the cellar was delivering value for money but recommended it should be a "self-financing regime for the medium term, with targeted sales of high value stock helping to pay for future purchases".

These days the Government Wine Committee, which meets around three times a year, advises Government Hospitality on purchasing new stock.

The committee is chaired by former diplomat Sir David Wright and the committee members are unpaid.

The overall market value of the cellar's contents is estimated to be £3.66m, compared to £3.34m two years before.

Between 2020 and 2021, £14,621 was spent on 516 bottles of Bordeaux, costing around £28 each.

The following year, £12,356 went towards purchasing 636 bottles of English and Welsh sparkling wines,18 bottles of gin, and four bottles each of whisky and liqueurs.

The pandemic prevented any sales of stock between 2020 and 2021 but they restarted in 2022.

Responding to the report, 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."