Tories and the tax on beer

The Guardian has interviewed people attending the Tory conference, including the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (formerly the Brewers' Society) who, while there in a professional capacity, also supports the party personally.

It's hardly surprising that most brewers, like most business owners, are Tories. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, brewers who became Tory politicians, known as the "beerage", included the Allsopps, owners of the one of the biggest breweries in Burton-upon-Trent.

More than three hundred MP's are members of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group which exists to "promote the wholesomeness and enjoyment of beer and the unique role of the pub in UK society". Why then do they do so little to stop the pocket of the drinker being raided by the Chancellor in successive Budgets?