ORDER, ORDER!

by Ben Wright (Duckworth £10.99)

IT IS common knowlege that Winston Churchill was fond of a bevvy or several, that Asquith was known as ‘ Squiffy’, and that the phrase ‘tired and emotional’ was coined to describe the near-permanent insobriety of Foreign Secretary George Brown.

In his book on the drinking habits of Westminster, journalist Ben Wright tells ‘a story of sippers, swiggers and bon viveurs’. From the unseemly excesses of Sir Francis Dashwood, a ‘lecherous rake with a riotous private life’ who became Chancellor in 1762, to that latter-day rake Alan Clark, accused by Clare Short of being drunk in the House, and Nigel ‘never go on TV after more than five pints’ Farage, Wright’s hangover-inducing account ends with the regretful reflection that, today, ‘the long, boozy lunches have gone and the mineral water has arrived’.