Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch’s lunchtime sandwich split

Some voters complain that politicians are all the same but now a clear difference has emerged between the two main party leaders.

In an interview with The Spectator, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Lunch is for wimps. I have food brought in and I work and eat at the same time.

“There’s no time… sometimes I will get a steak… I’m not a sandwich person. I don’t think sandwiches are a real food, it’s what you have for breakfast.”

She added that she would “not touch bread if it’s moist”.

Asked about her comments, No 10 said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer viewed sandwiches as a “great British institution”.

“I think he was surprised to hear that the leader of the opposition has a steak brought in for lunch.

“The prime minister is quite happy with a sandwich lunch.”

The spokesman added that Starmer “enjoys a tuna sandwich, and occasionally a cheese toastie”.

Responding to the dig, Badenoch wrote on social media: “The PM has time to respond to my jokes about lunch… but no time for the farmers who produce our food.”

Nigel Farage, who is well-known for his boozy lunches, has also weighed into the debate.

In a video on social media, the Reform UK leader said he thought lunch was “pretty cool” as he sipped from a glass of red wine at a restaurant table.

Jim Winship of the British Sandwich Association, unsurprisingly, hit back at Badenoch’s comments.

He told Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live: “Rubbish isn’t it? We eat 3.5bn commercially-made sandwiches every year, this is part of our heritage.

“The first sandwich was recorded as being made in 1762 by the Earl of Sandwich when he called for some cuts of beef to be brought to him between slices of toast so he could play cards.

“Sandwiches have been on the menu for a lot of people ever since then.”

They may be part of the UK’s heritage but Badenoch is not alone in her deep dislike of sandwiches.

Earlier this month, actor Anna Maxwell Martin told The Sun: “If I’m on a set and sandwiches are brought on – it’s hard for me to even say that word – I’d have to say ‘get that out’.”

Sandwiches can be a surprisingly troublesome subject for British politicians.

Badenoch’s predecessor as Tory leader, Rishi Sunak, was teased during the general election when ITV’s This Morning asked what his favourite meal was and he replied “sandwiches”.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was mocked for slightly struggling to eat a bacon sandwich, in a picture that was later seen as helping to scupper his bid to be PM.

Asked by Sky News about Badenoch’s comments, Miliband told Sky News, “I’m here for the sandwich content.

“I wish I could have a cross-party consensus here with Kemi Badenoch but I can’t. I think I need to persuade her of the delights of a bacon sandwich.”

Dominic Raab hit the headlines when the then Tory minister’s sandwich preferences were revealed by a former member of his staff.

She told the Daily Mirror he ordered the same lunch every day from Pret A Manger.

“He has the chicken Caesar and bacon baguette, SuperFruit pot and the Vitamin Volcano smoothie, every day. He is so weird. It’s the Dom Raab Special.”

Raab vehemently denied the claim, joking that he was now getting offers of free sandwiches from Subway.