Kemi Badenoch said she found interest in her meal choices “fascinating” and revealed she might treat herself to a turkey pie on Boxing Day after her distaste for sandwiches sparked a Westminster food fight.
The Tory leader clashed with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday after claiming in an interview that she does not consider sandwiches “real food” and instead sometimes opts to have a steak “brought in” for her lunch.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband also weighed in, saying he would need to “persuade her of the delights” of a bacon butty – a dish he was famously pictured struggling to eat while Labour leader in 2014.
Speaking to the PA news agency on a visit to Essex on Friday, Ms Badenoch said: “I think it is fascinating how interested people are in politicians’ lunch choices and it’s all very light-hearted.
“I was asked a question about what I like to eat, and I always answer questions – Keir Starmer doesn’t answer questions, but I always answer questions.
“You know you will always get the truth from me.”
Asked whether she would be eating a turkey sandwich on Boxing Day, she said: “Maybe a turkey pie on Boxing Day.”
It comes after Ms Badenoch revealed she was “not a sandwich person” and believed “lunch is for wimps” in an interview with the Spectator magazine.
“What’s a lunch break? Lunch is for wimps. I have food brought in and I work and eat at the same time. There’s no time … Sometimes I will get a steak … I’m not a sandwich person,” Ms Badenoch had said.
She also spoke of her aversion to sandwiches, which she described as not “real food” and “what you have for breakfast”.
In response, Downing Street defended the sandwich as a “great British institution” which brings in £8 billion a year to the UK economy.
Sir Keir is “quite happy with a sandwich lunch” and is partial to a “tuna sandwich and occasionally a cheese toastie”, his official spokesman said.
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday’s media round, Mr Miliband said he was “here for the sandwich content” and wished he could “have a cross-party consensus here with Kemi Badenoch, but I can’t”.
“You know, I think I need to persuade her of the delights of a bacon sandwich,” he told Sky News.
Mr Miliband was ridiculed for tackling the dish in a photograph that was widely seen as awkward and damaging to his unsuccessful 2015 bid to become prime minister.
Former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak previously described himself as a “big sandwich person”, telling reporters during the 2024 election campaign that a “club sandwich” was one of his favourites.
Ms Badenoch swiftly attacked the Prime Minister’s response to her remarks in a post on social media, writing: “The PM has time to respond to my jokes about lunch… but no time for the farmers who produce our food.
“He refused to answer questions because he doesn’t care. It’s an ideological attack on farmers and will destroy lives.
“The Conservatives will reverse his cruel family farm tax.”
