Past politicians who could drink you under the table

FORMER Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s drinking escapades are well known but his antics pale in comparison to what other past political leaders did with the drink.

**This picture has a scanned reverse - see associated content at the bottom of the details window** Bob Hawke, politician and Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991, drinking pictures only.

FOR some it has created a political storm, for others is has meant a boost in the polls. Regardless, many politicians don’t think twice when invited to down a schooner of beer. Both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and opposition spokesperson on Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Anthony Albanese have recently been spotted quaffing the amber elixir in public, prompting people to wonder if it is image management or merely love of the liquid.

While we may ponder their ­motivation, Abbott and Albo’s ­recent tipples are minor compared to the shenanigans of some past political leaders. Prime minister Robert Menzies (19549-66) was said to have enjoyed a jug of martini at lunch between debates in parliament. Bob Hawke set beer drinking records but gave up booze before running for office. John Curtin had also given up long before taking ­office, due to a drinking problem that once saw him hospitalised.

Australia's first prime minister Edmund Barton.

Drinking to excess should have hospitalised Edmund Barton, our first PM, who was nicknamed “Tosspot Toby” by some of his political enemies. It is said Barton ­imbibed rum and milk to start the day, moving on to sherry for brunch, with some beer or perhaps stout at lunchtime, he would relax with a whisky in the afternoon, sip wine at dinner and follow the dinner with liqueurs. There would then be a chance to break out the spirits and soda, which continued often until after midnight.

Barton is also said to have once rallied his friends to drag his favourite men’s club out of financial straits by helping drink the club back into the black. His drinking never ­noticeably interfered with his duties as PM and, according to his son, during his time in the top job he ­became a teetotaller.

British prime ministers have also been known for their enjoyment of fermented beverages. William Pitt the Younger would polish off several bottles of port in the course of a day, apparently for medicinal purposes on the advice of a doctor. On one occasion he was seen throwing up behind the speaker’s chair before replying to a question during a debate.

Sir Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine toast with champagne in Switzerland 1946.

Winston Churchill could also knock it back, in fact he seemed to encourage the rumours about his drinking, to suggest he had an iron constitution and almost superhuman tolerance.

He would start the day with a weak whisky and soda, that he called a “mouthwash”. For lunch he would drink a pint bottle of champagne. His fondness for French bubbly is well noted, his favourite was the 1914 Pol Roger vintage, which was all he would drink after his first taste of it in 1944 to celebrate the liberation of Paris. He would then follow lunch with a glass of cognac, a nap and then continue the afternoon with the odd whisky and soda.

Australian PM Sir Robert Menzies with drink in hand.

Before dinner there would be sherry, during dinner another pint of champers and to take him through the rest of the evening he would hit the port or brandy. It wouldn’t leave him drunk but he certainly wouldn’t have been able to pass an RBT.

Across the Atlantic Churchill’s good friend, wartime stalwart and distant relation Franklin Roosevelt also enjoyed a drink. In fact he so enjoyed a drink that he repealed Prohibition as soon as possible after being voted into office. His reasoning was that honest working people couldn’t afford the bootleg beer and they would be happier with easier access to a relaxing drink.

Roosevelt preferred champagne and cocktails to beer and often subjected guests to his bartending skills with strange concoctions and according to one source “the worst martinis I’ve ever tasted”.

General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party Leonid Brezhnev (left) offers a toast to US President Richard Nixon following signing of strategic arms limitation talks (SALT) between USA and USSR, in Moscow in 1972.

Richard Nixon was also fond of a few alcoholic beverages, although his problem was not so much ­alcoholism as being an uncontrollable drunk.

He once had too many drinks at a restaurant and got too familiar with a woman, offering her a job at the White House. Aides knew that when he had too many drinks that they should avoid taking things to him to be signed.

GREAT DRINKERS OF HISTORY

● Winston Churchill was once accused of being drunk by MP Bessie Braddock and replied: “Yes, madam, I am drunk. But in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”

● When a Mormon told him “Mr Churchill, the reason I do not drink is that alcohol combines the kick of the antelope with the bite of the viper”, Churchill replied: “All my life, I have been searching for a drink like that.”

● During Prohibition President Warren G. Harding continued to imbibe, taking a fifth of whisky with him to the golf course and taking sneaky sips between holes.

● Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev often drank to excess but also liked to get his opposite number drunk during negotiations to take advantage of them, a tactic also employed by Stalin.

Originally published as Past politicians who could drink you under the table