An urgent update on UK wine

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Normally when someone replies to a comment request after publication, we’ll promptly update the article in question.

But every once in a a while, a comment is so substantive, so material, that it deserves a post of its own.

And so it is with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which — four and a half days after we contacted them for comment on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar, about four days after they declined to comment, and about half a day after we published an article on it — has finally decided to break its silence.

An FCDO spokesperson said:

“The wine from the cellar, which has existed under successive governments, is used for the sole purpose of supporting hospitality at government hosted events and international summits attended by world and business leaders. This helps promote the UK on the world stage – in line with the government’s commitment to economic growth. 

“The wine cellar generates its own revenue to ensure the operation is as self-financing as possible

The final paragraph doesn’t end, so we may never know what additional revelations it may have contained.

Further reading:
— A deep dive into the Government’s £3.7mn wine cellar
— Another pointless article about the UK’s strategic wine reserves
— Amazingly, there is more to say about the UK government’s £3.8mn wine cellar