Jamie Oliver holds obesity strategy protest – but faces backlash for ‘trying to ban affordable food’
Boris Johnson slaps down Jamie Oliver’s demands for a ban on cheap junk food because it ‘won’t help people save on bills’ – as chef faces backlash for holding ‘Eton Mess’ protest at No 10 during cost of living crisis
Jamie Oliver brought a group of people and Eton Mess to Downing Street having invited millions on TwitterThe chef was protesting after a proposed ban on junk food deals was shelved – but he has been criticisedBoris Johnson has said it would make food more expensive – not less – and Government will delay changesHe said: ‘If people can save on their food bills with some offers then I think we’ve just got to be flexible’
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Boris Johnson today slapped down Jamie Oliver after the celebrity chef turned up Downing Street waving an Eton Mess pudding to demand the Prime Minister bans multibuy and BOGOF deals in shops and supermarkets.
Mr Oliver invited all 6.6million of his Twitter followers to descend on Westminster and demand a U-turn this morning – but less than 200 turned up.
And speaking on a visit to Hilltop Honey, which bottles the sweet substance in Powys, mid-Wales, Mr Johnson insisted that scrapping these deals would worsen the cost of living crisis by increasing the cost of a weekly shop.
The PM said the Government would not change its mind on delaying the introduction of a ban on buy-one-get-one-free promotions which are high in fat, sugar or salt.
He said: ‘If people can save on their food bills with some offers then I think we’ve just got to be flexible while continuing to tackle obesity.’
Britons also urged the celebrity chef to ‘read the room’ and ‘stop being a melt’ when millions are using food banks and choosing between eating and heating.
Mr Johnson said: ‘We understand the vital importance of tackling obesity, it costs the NHS huge sums of money. People feel healthier, happier, their quality of life is much, much better if they lose weight, speaking entirely personally. There are lots of things you’ve got to focus on, including diet, eating less, eating less is the most important thing, but there are some things at the moment where we think they make very little difference to obesity’.
But today Mr Oliver has accused the Government of using families’ suffering amid the cost-of-living crisis as an ‘excuse’ to delay tackling obesity.
The British chef presented an Eton Mess dessert to a crowd of around 200 supporters in the pouring rain outside Downing Street, which he said was ‘symbolic of the mess’ ministers have created by postponing England’s National Obesity Strategy by one year.
The celebrity chef and a small group of protesters brought Eton Mess desserts to the gates outside 10 Downing Street to protest the decision to delay the proposed ban
The 200-strong protest bizarrely presented the strawberry desserts at the gates leading into Downing Street to complain that the Government’s National Obesity Strategy has been delayed a year
The strategy aims to reduce consumption of food high in fat, sugar and salt (known as HFSS) by banning two-for-one junk food deals and television ads for it before 9pm. Ministers said last week that it had been deferred so they can review the impact on families amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Holding a glass dish of the strawberry meringue aloft, Mr Oliver told cheering protesters that was an excuse.
The 46-year-old chef and father-of-five said: ‘To use cost of living as an excuse is wrong, it’s completely unfair.
‘The Eton Mess is symbolic of the mess that we’ve got ourselves into.
‘It’s very much like the U-turn on the childhood obesity strategy that Boris Johnson’s own Government designed and passed.
‘So he’s doing a U-turn on his own laws at a time when child health has never been more compromised since records began.
‘It is absolutely urgent and the excuses that he’s used for not doing it are absolutely not true.’
The 200-strong protest bizarrely presented the strawberry desserts at the gates leading into Downing Street to complain that the Government’s National Obesity Strategy has been delayed a year.
Mr Oliver, a prominent anti-obesity campaigner, said that the ban’s would endanger the health of the UK’s children and dismissed criticism from some that the ban would result in higher food bills for families during the cost-of-living crisis.
Social justice campaigner Kwajo tweeted: Jamie could try campaigning to make healthier foods more *checks notes* affordable.’
Another critic of Mr Oliver’s campaign: ‘Massively out of touch. How can you look at everything that’s going on in this country and think ‘you know what we need? We need to make food items more inaccessible!’
‘Jamie, there are people that are starving’.
Holding a glass dish of the strawberry meringue aloft, Mr Oliver told cheering protesters that was an excuse.
The 46-year-old chef and father-of-five said: ‘To use cost of living as an excuse is wrong, it’s completely unfair.
‘The Eton Mess is symbolic of the mess that we’ve got ourselves into.
‘It’s very much like the U-turn on the childhood obesity strategy that Boris Johnson’s own Government designed and passed.
‘So he’s doing a U-turn on his own laws at a time when child health has never been more compromised since records began.
‘It is absolutely urgent and the excuses that he’s used for not doing it are absolutely not true.’
The 46-year-old chef and father-of-five said: ‘To use cost of living as an excuse is wrong, it’s completely unfair’
The dessert-based protest is a reference to Eton, the elite private school which Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several other Cabinet ministers attended.
The celebrity chef praised supermarket Tesco for pledging to ban two-for-one deals on junk food from October 2022 – a policy the Government has postponed for a year – to cheers from around 100 supporters.
When asked whether his campaign is out of touch at a time when families are increasingly struggling to put food on the table, Mr Oliver told PA: ‘This whole strategy was designed by the Government and has been researched by the Government proves that this particular mechanic (two for one deals on junk food) makes people spend more of their income and waste more.
‘And actually if you look at what Tesco said today, they are going to continue on discounts (but on) healthier and sustainable (food).
‘They’ve set the tone and I’m sure others will follow.
‘We want to put child health first, the strategy was looking world class and now it doesn’t.
‘It’s our job to put it all back together again and make sure that we can build a better future for our kids.’
When issuing his ultimatum, the chef said he was ‘upset’ after the government reneged on plans to ban junk food TV adverts before 9pm and buy-one-get-one-free deals at supermarkets.
In a video uploaded to Instagram, he called on parents, teachers and campaigners to bring their own Eton Mess desserts to No.10 on Friday and to ‘hold them up in solidarity.’
Speaking directly to the PM, Oliver ‘begged’ him to reverse course, telling him: ‘I’m here at your front door and I want to give you a little message.’
He said the Mr Johnson’s U-turn had ‘upset me and all the people that campaigned for child health’, adding: ‘I would love to give you the opportunity, if possible, to realise that it’s okay to make a mistake…
‘You’ve got 36 hours to go back on your U-turn on the law your own government put in place.’
He added: ‘If you don’t, I will call on parents teachers, chefs, campaigners, cleaners…. to walk down here at 12:30 on Friday for 15 minutes.
‘Why? Because we’re going to bring Eton mess, that great dessert, invented in that very privileged place, Eton school, where our prime minister went.
Jamie Oliver recorded himself outside the prime minister’s residence today (pictured), saying he was ‘upset’ after the government reneged on plans to ban junk food TV adverts and buy-one-get-one-free deals at supermarkets.
Oliver called on parents to march to Downing Street on Friday and hold up their Eton mess desserts ‘in solidarity’
Speaking directly to Boris Johnson (pictured), Oliver ‘begged’ him to reverse course, telling him: ‘I’m here at your front door and I want to give you a little message.’
‘I’d love you to make your Eton mess, go to Tesco, Sainsbury’s…get your Eton mess and bring it here in an orderly way for 15 minutes of fun, no mess, no shouting, just positivity, to show support that he needs and his government needs to take the childhood obesity strategy seriously.’
He added: ‘This doesn’t have to happen Boris, I think even though you were lucky enough to have the education at Eton, I went to a comprehensive school, but really my school was the pub I grew up in, and my main teacher was my dad, and he taught me three things: Actions speak louder than words, be true to your word, and never buy fish on a Monday.
‘So Boris, I ask you, dare I say it I beg you, please re-consider backtracking on key parts of the childhood obesity strategy.
‘This is one of the most profoundly important things as far as getting to the heart of levelling up and making this country a happier and healthier, more productive, fairer place.
‘So Boris, over to you brother, with warm hearts, do the right thing.’
