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
Chamberlain of the Exchequer duties. As the business of the Exchequer increased, the chamberlains in fee largely ceased their personal attendance on the Exchequer in favor of their deputies. On at least one occasion, during the reign of Edward I, a chamberlain in fee (the 9th Earl of Warwick) appointed two deputies, one to attend in the Exchequer of Pleas and the other in the Exchequer of Receipt; it was more usual for one deputy to be appointed, whose principal business was in the Receipt, or lower Exchequer. As the chamberlains in fee became merged into the Crown and ceased attendance, the deputies themselves