‘Lunch?’ growled Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. ‘Lunch is for wimps.’ Yet for half of Westminster the noble art of lunching is as much a part of political life as PMQs. For generations, hacks, flacks and MPs of all sides have wined and dined in various London establishments. Whether it is the pubs of SW1 or the wineries of Victoria, Kensington restaurants or the dive bars of Soho, many a long lunch has been enjoyed by the great and the not-so-good of British politics.
Is that all now under threat? For Mr S was disturbed last week to discover that Rachel Reeves not only prepares her own lunch but takes it to work at the Treasury in a Tupperware container. A Chancellor eating from a lunchbox? Wouldn’t have happened in Roy Jenkins’s time.
Reeves isn’t the only one. When it comes to the current government, Mr S understands that Keir Starmer will often have a sandwich for lunch at his desk – ideally with little packaging. He enjoys the simpler fillings, like tuna.
As for the opposition, Kemi Badenoch was quickly jumped on when she told The Spectator she preferred steak to sandwiches for lunch. Even then, she likes to have her lunch at her desk (taking the Gordon Gekko approach) and keep working away. That hasn’t stopped the Sunday Mirror going on the attack this weekend. The paper reveals that Badenoch likes to get her red meat from the salad bar Farmer J, where a lunch platter comes to £12.75. This apparently makes her, um, out of touch.
No wonder so many politicians are scared to indulge in a long lunch these days. Steerpike wonders whether the Westminster lunch is now officially dead. Where did it go wrong? Below is a reminder of politicians’ past and their favoured food at lunch…
Gordon Brown may have been more restrained than some of his colleagues during the working day but the former Labour leader is known for having a taste for the finer things, with champagne – strictly not Prosecco – being his tipple of choice. As well as having a weakness for, er, grouse, Brown was also a fervent snacker, ditching his four-Kitkats-a-day habit for multiple bananas in a bid to lose weight before the 2010 poll. Mr S can’t attest for the success of his health kick, but the diet did nothing for his electoral record.
Brown’s predecessor, Tony Blair, was also partial to a diet or two – with the New Labour leader known to have dabbled in the low carb Atkins meal plan to shape up for the top job. While his culinary choices improved over his time in office, his manners left a lot to be desired – after the former Prime Minister left guests shocked by drinking soup from, er, his bowl at a banquet. It’s one way to show you’re a man of the people…
Ed Miliband became known for bacon sandwiches while Ed Balls was a little more fun than his Labour colleagues – enjoying claret over meals with the Bank of England governor. He recalled the economist would begin with a martini, before moving into high quality wines – and never touch his vegetables. ‘I liked to show Eddie we appreciated his hospitality,’ reflected Balls. ‘Gordon, rather more puritan about life and lunchtimes, would gaze at us as we quaffed the claret with a face that said, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”‘
The late Alex Salmond was known to have a selection of favoured food places, entertaining guests at Scottish curry house Spice of Life and London’s own Kennington Tandoori. Scotland’s former first minister was certainly fond of a cold beverage – hydrating on Lucozade before enjoying a dram (or two) of whisky at lunch. Top of the the former SNP leader’s was Linlithgow’s prestigious Champagne Inn. The venue in which Salmond persuaded Nicola Sturgeon to drop out of the race for SNP leader in the early 2000s, over a decade later one of Salmond’s long lunches would end up totalling more than £1,000. Talk about indulgent, eh?
Liz Truss was one of the last defenders of a good lunch – but it led to a backlash. As International Trade Secretary, she insisted that she take the US trade representative to 5 Hertford Street – the Mayfair haunt owned by Robin Birley – with the lunch (which included aides) coming to £1,400. Crikey.
Her Foreign Secretary predecessor Dominic Raab set the ball in motion for the sandwich lunch, however. His own Pret a Manger order became the stuff of Westminster legend when a story about his diary secretary led to the disclosure that he is a man of habit on meals: ‘It’s from Pret. He has the chicken Caesar and bacon baguette, superfruit pot and the vitamin volcano smoothie every day.’
As for Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister opted for intermittent fasting – which isn’t the most lunch friendly option. The teetotal leader also majored on cans of pop and chocolate bars when he needed a pick-me-up.
What about the leaders of yesteryear? For Winston Churchill, lunch was an expansive affair: lasting two-and-a-half-hours, three courses and an Imperial Pint of Pol Roger champagne, topped off by brandy and cigars. Oysters, venison, Stilton might feature in a typical luncheon campaign. Margaret Thatcher had simpler tastes. Declassified papers show her sometimes opting for a grapefruit and eggs for both breakfast and lunch. She also opted for tomatoes and spinach too while on Sundays it was hot chicken for lunch and cold chicken for dinner.
Harold Macmillan was an inveterate clubman and would have enjoyed many of the same dishes as Churchill. Yet there were two exceptions: his weekly duels at PMQs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Such were his nerves on these occasions that ‘Supermac’ opted for a simple meal alone, in case he succumbed to his feelings of physical sickness. While some political lunches can get a little boozy, they rarely land the luncher in trouble with the law. Yet that is exactly what happened with Jeffrey Archer in 2002. He was returned to confinement for breaking the terms of day release from open prison after dining with Gillian Shepherd.
In the current climate, lunch is once again a dangerous habit. But Mr S hopes to see a return to this noble tradition soon. After all, if ministers want to make a meal of government, why not enjoy a glass of red with it too?
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