Jamie Oliver used a BBC interview today to declare war on Liz Truss over free school meals, predicting that she will be booted out of Downing Street shortly, stating, ‘She will be a ship that passes in the night.’
In yet another political intervention by the outspoken TV chef, the father-of-five told Radio 4’s Today Programme that he had “no faith” in the Prime Minister and predicts she will lose her post shortly.
‘I have no faith [in Liz Truss] – we’ve been watching her ideas for six, seven years, she’s not going to change,’ he said.
She will be a ship that sails through the night. I’m honestly fairly calm about it all.’
He also said that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to ‘almost die and have a kid’ before he understood his stance on school lunches.
When asked how he got Mr Johnson on his side after ‘warring with him’ over free school meals, the famous chef and restaurateur told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘He had to nearly die and have a child to put him in the frame of mind to do the right thing.’
‘I think kindness has to be infused into this party if they have any chance – and I don’t know if they have it in them,’ he continued, implying that he expects the Tories would be thrown out at the next election, in part for not ‘putting children first.’ ‘I’ve had six prime ministers and thirteen education secretary,’ he remarked. ‘None of them have taken the subject of child health seriously.’
Jamie Oliver used a BBC interview today to declare war on Liz Truss over free school lunches.
However, he disputed to Nick Robinson that he is a member of the ‘anti-growth alliance,’ a term established by Ms Truss to describe her detractors.
‘Absolutely not,’ he said. I’ve spent a career not just employing over 20,000 people, but also traveling throughout the world extolling the virtues of the United Kingdom.
‘That is what we as a country must do. We have an amazing country, but striking hasty trade deals with the lowest common denominator and harming British agriculture and producers is just insane.’
‘The reality is, if you speak to the top minds in economics, in the country, in the globe, they will tell you that if you have healthier kids, you will have a more productive, more profitable society, and a higher GDP.’ To accomplish so, you must think in terms of 10 to 20 years rather than three-year cycles.’
Mr Oliver wants 800,000 more children to receive free school meals, but he believes the Conservative leader will object and that he is “ready for the fight.”
‘We know that kids who eat a proper breakfast and lunch perform better in school,’ he said.
The Naked Chef has advocated for the bar for who is eligible for a free school meal to be raised. He was outside Downing Street in May, asking that then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson end BOGOF promotions at stores.
Jamie Oliver, the man who eternally destroyed school dinners, should stay out of it, according to one reviewer today. ‘According to another,
Children of parents on Universal Credit with an annual income of no more than £7,400, or on another benefit such as jobseeker’s allowance, are currently eligible for free school meals.
‘If you earn more than £7,400, you won’t get that free school meal,’ Mr Oliver said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. But I think we can all agree that there is a huge difference between the current means test for free school lunches and Universal Credit.
‘I guess what the government is saying is that Universal Credit tethers off and can go up to around £30,000 – £40,000, but the majority of them are around £14,000 per household.’
When asked if he wanted the threshold to be met, he said, ‘Well, now more than ever… if they were to open the threshold of who would be allowed to have a free school lunch, that would also inject funds into the system, which would really help to guarantee a much better service across the country’s 26,000 schools.’
Five months ago, the celebrity chef arrived to Downing Street carrying an Eton Mess dessert, demanding that the Prime Minister prohibit multibuy and BOGOF bargains at stores and supermarkets.
Mr Oliver encouraged all 15 million of his Twitter and Instagram followers to descend on Westminster and demand a policy reversal, but only 200 people showed up as poverty advocates called him tone deaf.
Boris Johnson responded by stressing that the Government will not change its mind about postponing the implementation of a ban on buy-one-get-one-free sales, even if some of the foods are rich in fat, sugar, or salt.
‘If consumers can save money on their food expenses with some deals, I think we just have to be flexible while continuing to fight obesity,’ he said.
Chef Jamie Oliver raises his Eton mess to the skies outside Downing Street in May, urging then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to reconsider the Government’s anti-obesity campaign. He also wants BOGOF bargains to be prohibited.
The celebrity chef stated yesterday at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that a ‘kitchen full of only guys’ was ‘terrible’ and ‘not a healthy place to work’ because they’struggle with ego more than women’.
The 47-year-old, who was promoting his new cookbook One: Simple one-pan marvels, stated that women have a more intuitive approach to cooking because they react to what is in front of them, something he said he tries to replicate in order to be at his best in the kitchen.
‘As a young boy, I had this energy about Michelin stars and measurement and how you manage nature as opposed to how you react to nature – which I believe are more feminine attributes like nourishment and more maternal sentiments – so if I’m ever good, I have to try to think like a woman,’ he continued.
Oliver has repeatedly chastised celebrity chefs for prioritizing their own egos over writing recipe books that everyone can follow, suggesting that his celebrity colleagues should act as a “sat-nav” for the home cook.
‘As a man and a chef, you have to fight your ego, and look at how many chefs’ books are garbage.’ It’s because they can’t get out of the restaurant, they’re out of control, and they’re egotistical,’ he told the Sun last year.
‘You have to beat that individual up and throw them to the side for me.’
‘My target demographic is quite mainstream.’ My job is to be precise. You complete your job and divide it into reasonable and useful chapters.’ Back in Cheltenham, Oliver contrasted the’regimental’ Anglo-French culinary craft he learned as a child at his parents’ gastropub with the Italian cooking that would later have a significant influence on his early career as a chef, characterizing Italian cooking as’slightly more feminine.’
The father-of-five also ascribed his early success as the Naked Chef to women, claiming that his “celebrity” was “fueled by female journalists.”
‘I think you have to remember what it was like back then, when men and women went off to work together, yet guys all over the country were asking, ‘What’s for supper, love?’
The Naked Chef was “about getting boys back in the kitchen,” according to Oliver, but it didn’t go over well with members of his own sex.
He described having a “difficult” interaction with males during his first two years, with “quite a lot of scaffolding abuse.”
‘I was chased and roughed up a couple times. They had it easy until their girlfriend or wife said, ‘Look, there’s a foetus on the TV here, if he can do it, surely you can, you’re a 45-year-old man, I’ll have it once a week, you lazy bastard!’
‘You think you females have it hard until you get over the scaffolding; being the Naked Chef in the 1990s was not fun…’