Buy British says the maker of Hovis and Oxo

The new boss of Premier Foods has called on consumers to start buying British-made brands rather than imports.

In a move reminiscent of the 1968 "I'm Backing Britain" campaign, Mike Clarke, who joined the Hovis to Oxo food manufacturer from Kraft last year, said: "In this year of British celebration, we believe that more and more of our retail customers and consumers will be choosing to buy British brands like ours, made in Britain, supporting British jobs."

Part of his campaign will see Mr Kipling French Fancies renamed Mr Kipling Great British Fancies for the summer, with the lurid pink and yellow icing of the French version replaced with bold red, white and blue.

Mr Clarke said: "When I arrived at Premier I soon realised one of our phenomenal differences is that we manufacture 100 per cent of our products in the UK." He pointed out that Hovis was now made entirely from British wheat, while most of its rivals used wheat imported from Canada.

First-quarter sales of the core brands rose by 3.7 per cent while lesser brands were down 0.5 per cent. Overall sales rose by 1.3 per cent to £427m.