07 Dec 2007


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Tesco returns fire over "godfather of binge-drinking" remark


Tesco

Tesco has hit back at comments made in the Commons that saw the retailer's chief executive Sir Terry Leahy branded “the godfather of binge-drinking”

The Tesco boss was singled out by MP John Grogan, who heads a panel examining the health consequences of drinking, for selling alcohol at rock bottom prices.

A spokesman for Tesco called the comments “offensive” and “inaccurate” and insisted they did nothing to inform “the complex debate on binge drinking in society.”

He said: “The vast majority of alcohol bought at Tesco forms part of the weekly shop, and it is insulting and wrong to assert that families looking for value when they buy beer or wine are the cause of a serious social problem.”

In the parliamentary debate, Grogan called on Leahy to be more responsible – referring to how the UK’s biggest supermarket had underpriced beer and lager during last year’s World Cup.

The remarks came as health minister Ben Bradshaw said ministers had ordered an independent review into the relationship between supermarkets’ pricing of alcohol and the harm to health.

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