Politicians and sandwiches
Lord Sandwich is credited with popularising the sandwich. An eighteenth century politician his effigy was burnt outside the Tower of London on one occasion after he was involved in prosecuting John Wilkes for obscene libel. A sort of toasted sandwich
Wilkes became Mayor of London and a latter day fan is Boris Johnson.
William Cobbett in the 1820s favoured bread and cheese but not the cheese sandwich as such.
Raymond Postgate who founded the Good Food Guide saw the then British Rail sandwich as everything that was wrong with British cuisine in the 1950s.
By the 1960s Harold Wilson was talking to trade union leaders in Downing St over beer and sandwiches
In more recent times some took exception to the way in which Ed Miliband ate a bacon sandwich.
This brings us, sort of, to the strange affair of Keir Starmer and sandwiches. He told a Resolution Conference on 4th December that he sometimes suggested a pub lunch to his sister who would respond by saying she would bring sandwiches. She is a badly paid care worker- the point Starmer was probably trying to make. However the reality is that pub that sells lunches do not welcome people bringing their own food for obvious reasons. Wet led pubs that don’t sell food would have no issue with it in which case Keir would need to be making some sandwiches himself. White bread and dripping possibly…
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