‘Truly out of touch’: Tory minister suggests drowning coronavirus sorrows with £170 Champagne

Christopher Pincher described the wine as an ‘alternative vaccine’ against the ‘memory of last year’

(UK Parliament)

A Conservative minister has been branded “out of touch” after suggesting people to drown the sorrows of 2020 with a £170 bottle of champagne.  

Amidst an economic recession and global pandemic, minister for housing Christopher Pincher said described Krug Grand Cru Cuvée as an "alternative vaccine” against the “memory of last year”.

In an article for conservative culture magazine The Critic, the minister wrote that a bottle of the wine was "ideal for lifting the spirit and lighting up a darkening winter afternoon,” noting its flavours of "tart satsuma" and "light, tight, nutty effervescence".

Labour’s Mike Amesbury, shadow minister for housing, described Mr Pincher as “truly out of touch and breathtakingly arrogant.”

“While leaseholders were having sleepless nights about how they would find thousands of pounds to make their flats safe from dangerous cladding and more than half a million in rent arrears or temporary accommodation struggling to make ends, the housing minister was recommending they buy bottles of champagne costing £170,” said Mr Amesbury.

"Chris Pincher should be fixing the massive problems facing leaseholders and those in desperate need of good quality, affordable and truly sustainable housing, not writing articles about luxury wines."

Mr Pincher writes a regular wine column forThe Critic and according to the register of MPs’ interests is paid a fee of £200.

Mr Amesbury suggested the minister “stick to his day job”. 

A spokesperson for Mr Pincher declined to comment.