Chancellor of the Exchequer to parliament. This includes alcohol, which is otherwise banned under parliamentary rules. Previous chancellors have opted for whisky (Kenneth Clarke), gin and tonic (Geoffrey Howe), brandy and water (Benjamin Disraeli and John Major), spritzer (Nigel Lawson) and sherry and beaten egg (William Gladstone). The recent chancellors, George Osborne, Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown, opted for water. In fact Darling drank what was named "Standard Water" in reference to, and support of, the London "Evening Standard" newspaper's campaign to have plain tap water available in restaurants at no charge to customers. The chancellor has a robe of office, similar to that
John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer) he was a Commissioner for the Union with Scotland, and was the last Speaker of the House of Commons of England and after the Acts of Union 1707, became the first Speaker of the new House of Commons of Great Britain. At the 1708 general election Smith was returned unopposed as MP for Andover, and subsequently gave up his position as Speaker, when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer again on 22 April 1708. He ceased to be Chancellor on the 11 August 1710 on the dissolution of Parliament and was returned unopposed for Andover at the 1710 general