Tuesday 11 October 2022 09:10 AM Jamie Oliver says he's 'ready to fight' Liz Truss over free school dinners trends now
Jamie Oliver today used a BBC interview to declare war with Liz Truss over free school meals and predicted she will soon be turfed out of Downing Street, saying: 'She will be a ship that passes in the night'.
The father-of-five told Radio 4's Today Programme that he has 'no faith' in the Prime Minister and predicted that she will soon lose her job - in yet another intervention in politics by the outspoken TV chef.
He said: 'I have no faith [in Liz Truss] - we've been tracking her in her views for six, seven years, she's not going to change. She will be a ship that passes in the night. I'm actually quite calm about the whole thing'.
He also claimed that former prime minister Boris Johnson had to 'nearly die and have a child' before he saw his point of view over school lunches.
Asked about getting Mr Johnson 'on side' after 'having warred with him' over free school meals, the celebrity cook and restaurateur told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'He had to nearly die though and have a child to put him in the frame of mind to do the right thing.'
Hinting that he believes the Tories will be voted out at the next election, in part for not 'putting children first', he said: 'I think kindness has to be injected into this party if they have any chance - and I don't know if they have got it in them.' He added: 'I've been through six prime ministers and 13 education secretaries. None of them have taken seriously the issue of child health'.
Jamie Oliver today used a BBC interview to declare war with Liz Truss over free school meals
The TV chef predicted that Ms Truss will soon be shown the door of No 10
Health Secretary Therese Coffey (pictured today on LBC) today claimed the rule-change to outlaw smoking in cars with children was probably not 'the right thing to be doing'
Health Secretary Therese Coffey today claimed the rule-change to outlaw smoking in cars with children was probably not 'the right thing to be doing'.
Dr Coffey made the controversial statement as it was revealed she plans to U-turn on the Government's pledge to unveil an action plan to tackle tobacco use.
The cigar-puffing Liz Truss ally said she voted against the law change in 2015 because she didn't believe in telling parents what to do.
She admitted that she did not know whether the law change actually was implemented at the time.
Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari why she voted against the rule change, she said: 'Oh probably because I didn't think it was the right thing to be doing, to be telling parents how to handle the situation.'
Pressed on whether she thinks it is right to smoke with children in the back, Dr Coffey said she couldn't recall whether the law changed but thinks it 'probably did'.
She added: 'I'm not getting into necessarily prescriptive... we want a positive prevention programme in the future.'
Advertisement
But he denied to Nick Robinson that he is part of the 'anti-growth coalition', a term coined by Ms Truss for her critics.
He replied: 'Completely not. I've spent a lifetime not only employing over 20,000 people but travelling around the world saying how brilliant Britain is.
'That's what we need to do as a country. We have an incredible country but just doing quick trade deals to the lowest common denominator and threatening British farming and British producers is completely bonkers.'
He added: 'The reality is, if you speak to the best minds in economics, in the country, in the world, they will tell you that if you output healthier kids, you're going to have a more productive, more profitable country, better GDP. To do that, you have to think in 10 to 20 years, not three-year cycles.'
Mr Oliver wants 800,000 more children to get free school meals, but suggested that the Conservative leader will resist and he is 'up for the fight'.
'We know that every kid who has a proper breakfast and lunch learn better at school', he said.
The Naked Chef has called for the threshold to be opened for who qualifies as having a free school meal. In May he was outside Downing Street
