Boris Johnson’s libertarian journey on tackling obesity

The prime minister’s permissive views have collided with the reality of coronavirus, writes Ashley Cowburn

The PM needs the country to be in shape for a potential second wave (PA)

I say let people eat what they like,” the backbencher Boris Johnson told a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party conference in 2006. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph at the time, the then-shadow education minister was supporting mothers in Yorkshire who had passed pork pies through the school fence in an act of defiance against the introduction of “over-priced, low-fat rubbish”.

“Why shouldn’t they push pies through the railings?” he asked. “I would ban sweets from school but this pressure to bring in healthy food is too much. If I was in charge, I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like.” It was just one libertarian view from Mr Johnson, who has consistently rallied against the so-called “nanny state” on issues such as obesity during his political career.

Just last year during the Conservative leadership, he also vowed to put a stop to any rise in what he described as “sin taxes”, which included levies on alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy foods.