Theresa May abandoned key parts of her child obesity strategy because she is not a parent, the founder of a restaurant chain has claimed.
Thomasina Miers, who won Masterchef in 2005 and went on to found Mexican eatery Wahaca, told the Hay Festival that measures such as banning junk food advertising would not have disappeared from the strategy if the PM had children, the Times reported.
The omission of measures such as restrictions on advertising sugary and fatty foods, as well as product placement pushing unhealthy snacks, was strongly criticised by the Heath Select Committee, medical experts and the likes of former HuffPost UK guest editor Jamie Oliver.
Miers said: “Part of me felt that if you had had children you would not have done that, because it is so important that our children eat [healthy food].”
The mother-of-three said that she had “hesitated” about making the claim but added: “But I kind of felt that this food bill was six years in the making, it was a very important food bill and having children makes you think a lot about how food is marketed to children and how you feed your own children.”
But her comments were met with strong criticism.
This is not the first time the PM has been targeted for not having children, something Miers did acknowledge in her talk.
Andrea Leadsom came under fire during the Conservative leadership campaign for suggesting that May had less of a stake in the country’s future because she was not a parent.
She went on to withdraw from the leadership race over the ensuing furore.