Conservative minister suggests £170 bottle of champagne to cheer up after 2020

A Conservative Minister has suggested buying a £170 bottle of champagne to cheer up after last year.

Christopher Pincher suggested members of the public see off the “rotten” 2020 with a Krug Grand Cru Cuvee, which he described as tasting like a "tart satsuma".

Writing in The Critic magazine, the Tamworth MP and housing minister suggested people avoid Dom Perignon and instead try the £170 beverage, claiming it was ideal for “lifting the spirit and lighting up a darkening winter afternoon”.

He continued: "So, if you have the chance, or the wherewithal to buy a bottle, these bubbles will brighten your family bubble and provide an alternative vaccine until the real thing provides more permanent inoculation against the memory of last year."

Christopher Pincher, Conservative MP for Tamworth, (second from right) alongside fellow Tories MP Julian Smith (far left), as well as Labour MPs Jeff Smith and Jessica Morden, in the House of Commons. Picture: Jessica Taylor/AFP/Getty Images

Labour's Mike Amesbury slammed the Tory MP and told him to focus on the day job.

The shadow housing and planning minister said: "With every dot and comma of this column, Chris Pincher has shown how truly out of touch and breathtakingly arrogant he is.

"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.

"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."

According to his register of interests, Mr Pincher has previously been paid £1,200 for his views on vino by The Critic.

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