In a democracy, it would seem that the least that can be asked of our representatives, even if we have not voted for them, is, in addition to working for the common good, that they behave with decorum, restraint, sanity and responsibility. But unfortunately for everyone, they behave, more and more, like madmen.
Now, one thing is the slum shouting that has become fashionable in Spain, and another is the increasingly frequent cases detected among the political class regarding drug or alcohol abuse, as is happening, without going any further. , in the United Kingdom and France.
At the beginning of December, Paris Match magazine revealed that drug use is common among French parliamentarians and even ministers. Caroline Janvier, a 41-year-old deputy from Renaissance - Macron's party - had dared to break the law of silence that usually accompanies these unspeakable illicit activities. And she did it as a result of the scandal involving Senator Joël Guerriau, who had shortly before been arrested and then charged, allegedly for having drugged Sandrine Jasso, a deputy and alleged friend, without his consent and for lustful purposes.
The senator poured ecstasy into a drink at his house, in order to facilitate a sexual relationship that she did not want. Fortunately, the representative was able to escape the libidinous attempts of the shameless senator known for his fight against (other people's) drugs. It can be said that this case was the last straw, at least for Caroline Janvier, and hence her revelations to Paris Match, in which she also pointed out certain ministers.
Well, despite their -deserved?- democratic prestige, those who take the cake in these matters are undoubtedly the British, both in the Lower and Upper Houses. Well known are the gatherings that were held in the middle of the pandemic at 10 Downing Street with Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. Although, as a later investigation would reveal, those alcoholic “work meetings” were just the tip of the iceberg of an overwhelmed government.
Now, the British tradition goes back a long way. Churchill drank like a Cossack, preferably Johnnie Walker black card diluted with water or champagne, preferably a Pol Roger, from the vintage of 1921 or 1928. Before him, Asquith liked wine more than eating with his fingers. On the other hand, Harold Macmillan drank the bottle with some moderation, but he was at all times lenient with the excessive alcohol consumption of some of his ministers.
The Labor Prime Minister of the 1960s, Harold Wilson, drank brandy to get in shape before taking part in arduous parliamentary sessions, but when he began to gain weight he switched to beer, at the rate of about five pints a day. Margaret Thatcher used to round off her endless work days with a few generous drinks of Bell's whiskey, her favorite brand. Legendary became the alcohol intake of her husband, Denis, who once declared: 'Well, when I'm not totally drunk I like to play golf.'
The skittish Tony Blair confesses in his memoirs that he liked to drink a dry whiskey or a gin and tonic before dinner, followed by a couple of glasses of wine or even half a bottle with the meal. But he was at all times aware that he was bordering on the permitted limit, at least that's what he says. Gordon Brown's drink of choice, his successor, was champagne, Moët
David Cameron has always been loyal to whiskey. But if, as Prime Minister, he drank little during the week, there was nothing he liked more than eating on Sundays in some rural pub, with plenty of alcohol at hand. In 2012 he left the Plow Inn, leaving his eight-year-old daughter Nancy forgotten at the inn.
As for the premiers who have come after, what does it matter: they last so short in office that hardly anything is known about their alcoholic preferences. They have enough with Brexit and the antics of Boris Johnson, who usually has a pint of beer before meals and a couple of glasses of wine afterwards. That says. Whether he tells the truth is another matter, as we already know.
