Champagne socialist

"Champagne socialist" is a pejorative political term originating in the United Kingdom.

The alliterative phrase is used to describe self-identified socialists, whose comfortable upper middle class lifestyles are thought to contradict their political convictions; this is typified by their supposed consumption of the luxury drink Champagne. It is a popular epithet which implies a degree of hypocrisy and it is closely related to the concept of the liberal elite.

It is broadly similar to the American terms Limousine liberal or latte liberal, and to idioms in other languages such as the French Gauche caviar, the German Salonkommunist, and the Italian Radical Chic. Other related terms include Hampstead liberal, Gucci socialist, and in Ireland smoked salmon socialist.

In the UK, the term typically refers to affluent Labour Party supporters, who stereotypically live in Inner London and read The Guardian newspaper. Right-wing critics often use the term to disparage political opponents; the champagne socialist espouses leftist views while enjoying a comfortable lifestyle, implying that left-wing views are really only held by privileged people. This usage of the term has been criticised by the writer and broadcaster Caitlin Moran as a fallacious argument, because it assumes that only those who are poor can express an opinion about social inequality.

The term has also been used by commentators on the Left to criticise centrist views. For example, some traditional left-wingers regard former Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald as a "champagne socialist" who betrayed the Labour Movement. MacDonald's lavish lifestyle and his mingling with high society is supposed to have been a corrupting influence which led to the end of the Labour Government in 1931 and the formation of the National Government. More recently, the epithet has been levelled at supporters of the New Labour movement which brought Tony Blair to power in 1997.

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