Nobody could have predicted that Keir Starmer’s waistline would have become one of the talking points of budget week. But a throwaway comment by Peter Mandelson, the Labour peer, that he could do with shedding a few pounds paved the way for the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to poke fun at him in the Commons, and for shadow ministers to be quizzed over his weight.
Mandelson’s comments came in the context of a distinctly less personal critique of the dress sense of former Labour leaders; he recounted how he bought Tony Blair a collection of expensive, bright ties to project “boldness and confidence”. Ties are one thing, weight another: it’s rude to so publicly opine on a politician’s size, not that Starmer could really be labelled overweight.
