Government made ‘huge blunder’ on Rashford meals campaign, inquiry hears

There was a clear lack of diversity in the prime minister’s top team when it came to informing policy and decision-making, a hearing was told.

England football star Marcus Rashford led a campaign for free school meal vouchers in the pandemic (Fareshare/Mark Waugh/PA) (PA Media)

The Government made a “huge blunder” around the Marcus Rashford free school meals campaign, a former key adviser to Boris Johnson said, as he lamented the lack of diversity among policymakers.

The then-prime minister was told “hungry children” were not the place to start when considering restraint on public finances in the pandemic, former No 10 director of communications Lee Cain said.

Mr Cain said there had been a clear lack of diversity in the prime minister’s top team when it came to informing policy and decision-making.

I remember asking in the Cabinet Room of 20 people, how many people had received free school meals. Nobody had – resulting in a policy and political blind spot. This was a huge blunder

Lee Cain's statement to the inquiry

In a written statement to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Mr Cain said: “I remember asking in the Cabinet Room of 20 people, how many people had received free school meals. Nobody had – resulting in a policy and political blind spot. This was a huge blunder.

“The PM (to some degree understandably) said we needed to draw a line in the sand on public spending commitments, but this was clearly not the place to draw that line – something the PM was told by his senior team.”

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Mr Cain said: “It’s quite clear that there were challenges of gender diversity, socio-economic diversity and ethnic minority diversity at the very top of the PM’s top team.”

He described footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign as “fantastic” and said it had been gaining a huge amount of media attention.

He said while Mr Johnson had a view at the time that there needed to be more restraint on public finances, Mr Cain told him: “I said to him at the time I don’t think hungry children is the place to start just from a moral or political standpoint, it was the wrong decision.

“But I just think there was a lack of understanding of what families were potentially going through at that time, solely just because I think people had never lived it, they don’t appreciate it and may not appreciate those challenges.

“So I think this was just one example of many where if you had more diversity in the room, a range of diversity, I think it would improve decision-making and improve policymaking.”

Rashford waged a high-profile campaign in 2020 to persuade the Government to provide free meals to vulnerable youngsters in England throughout the school holidays during the pandemic, forcing Mr Johnson into a somewhat embarrassing U-turn.

The player was subsequently made an MBE in recognition of his activism, dedicating the honour to his mother and vowing to continue his work to help disadvantaged children.

The striker said his motivation was to give the nation’s youngsters the things he did not have when growing up and stressed every child deserves an “opportunity”.