Why Boris U-turned on free school meals

This lunchtime Boris Johnson performed a U-turn on free school meals over the summer holidays. Following a campaign led by the England striker Marcus Rashford calling for the free school meal voucher system for low-income families to be extended over the summer, a ‘Covid summer food fund’ is to be set up which will see those eligible get a six-week voucher.

For many the big question isn’t ‘why has the government U-turned?’ but ‘why did the government take so long to U-turn?’. An increasing number of Tory MPs had come to see it as inevitable as the story looked set to dominate the news and attract criticism from all sides. The popularity of the personality pushing for this meant it was a story that had cut through well beyond the Westminster bubble. The issue was set to come to a head this afternoon with Labour pushing for a vote on it – that would have led to potential rebellions and embarrassing scenes for Conservative MPs.