You can find in the media details of a spat between Peter Mandelson and Wes Streeting about whether Keir Starmer is overweight or not. Given mass starvation in Gaza there are surely other matters.
Mandelson argues that image in politics matters while Streeting seems to be saying it doesnt matter if Starmer is a little overweight. If he is, and I have no specific insight, its probably due not to what he is eating but rather his love of real ale. It is one of the more endearing aspects of Starmer,mentioned in Tom Baldwin’s biography, but something he chooses not to make as much of as perhaps he might do.
Baldwin’s book also reveals Starmer’s Saturday night cooking for the family, where he uses lots of pots, takes a long time and infuriates his hungry kids. Its not Starmer’s cooking that is of interest here but his method. A lengthy time taken and in the end the kids have to eat what he produces
The Starmer paunch story has revealed something else broadly in this area. He has long been a vegetarian but now seems to be a pescatarian- fish eater. Why not? It is then revealed that out campaigning he was given a box while waiting for a train which contained chicken. He ate that too and reportedly enjoyed it. On that basis he now appears to be avoiding red meat,although perhaps we shouldnt be surprised if he is pictured leaving a North London McDonalds (something I have been falsely accused of in the past).
What Starmer eats is entirely up to him but having made a thing of being vegetarian and now retreating somewhat from it suggests either a man of pragmatism or a man who lacks principle. People will have differing views..
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