Drinking has oiled the cogs of politics for as long as there have been politicians. Britain's first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, smuggled wine up the Thames with the help of the Navy. Three centuries later Tony Blair confessed that a stiff drink and half a bottle of wine a night had become his crutch while in office. Joseph Stalin flushed out traitors with vodka. The disintegration of Richard Nixon and Boris Yeltsin was largely down to drink. Winston Churchill was infamous for his drinking, often taking a whisky and soda first thing in the morning, and champagne ritually with dinner...But why did these politicians drink and what was their tipple of choice? How did drinking help shape the decisions they made? Ben Wright, political correspondent for the BBC, explores the social history of alcohol within politics, from the debauched drinking practices of eighteenth century ministers up to the current day, often based on his own experiences supping in Westminster bars and sharing bottles of wine over long lunches...With exclusive interviews and in-depth research, Order, Order! uses alcohol as a lens through which to meet a remarkable cast of politicians, to understand their times and discover what drove them to drink.
