‘It’s an embarrassment’: Leon founder quits as government food tsar in obesity row and launches astonishing attack on Steve Barclay, accusing Health Secretary of ‘letting people get ill’

• Dimbleby was brought in to produce recommendations to improve nation’s diet
• He claims many of the measures have been watered-down or pushed back
• Read: Mr Dimbleby explains why our fragile food security means empty shelves

The former government food tsar has launched an astonishing attack on the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, and accused him of ‘letting people get ill’.

Henry Dimbleby, founder of Leon restaurant, stepped down in order to be free to criticise an ‘insane’ failure to tackle a national obesity crisis.

He was commissioned by the Conservatives to produce a series of recommendations to improve the nation’s diet and combat the dangers caused by the promotion of foods high in fat, sugar and salt.

However, he claims many of the measures have been watered-down, pushed back or junked in what the now former government adviser slammed as ‘completely shocking’ and ‘depressing’.

He suggested his efforts had fallen victim to a food culture war at the top of government with some ministers reluctant to be seen as pushing ‘Nanny State’ policies.

Henry Dimbleby was commissioned by the Conservatives to produce a series of recommendations to improve the nation’s diet

The Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, has been accused of ‘letting people get ill’

In a blast at the Health Secretary, he said: ‘Steve Barclay has talked about prevention, but actually if you read what he’s said it’s not prevention, it’s early diagnosis.

‘He seems to be very much in the ‘let people get ill but treat it earlier’ camp. It’s an embarrassment.’

He told The Grocer: ‘I’m very pessimistic, I just don’t think they get it.’

Some 64 per cent of adults in England are either overweight or obese, which is leaving the NHS with a crippling bill to treat the associated ill health from heart disease to cancer.

Mr Dimbleby was appointed by Michael Gove and his report was subsequently, apparently enthusiastically, welcomed by Boris Johnson. However, the Truss administration was philosophically opposed to advising people what to eat.

Before becoming Health Secretary, Mr Barclay was the Downing Street chief of staff where his role involved removing regulations seen as contributing to a rise in the cost of living.

Mr Dimbleby said there was nothing Left-wing or anti-Conservative in promoting public health.

‘The sad thing is there a grand tradition of Tory intervention on public health. It was Winston Churchill who said the greatest asset a nation can have is the health of the citizens,’ he said.

Ministers rejected the idea of putting a tax on products high in salt and sugar, offering free fruit and veg for children suffering food poverty, and an expansion of free school meals.

A ban on promoting buy-one-get-one-free deals on unhealthy snacks has been pushed back to October, blaming the cost-of-living crisis. And a ban on television adverts for junk food before 9pm and on paid-for adverts online has been delayed until 2025.

Mr Dimbleby, who became lead non-executive director at Defra, said the Government’s ’embarrassing’ climbdown on tackling the promotion of junk food was driven by pressure from the food and advertising industries.

‘They’ve given up on any of their big promises. They have given up on public health. I think it’s completely shocking and depressing,’ he said.

Mr Dimbleby is the founder of Leon restaurants

Mr Dimbleby warned: ‘There’s an unexploded bomb sitting underneath our society, which is the harm of the health issues from food.

‘Whatever colour the government is in ten years’ time, dealing with that mess is going to be a major part of their policy and yet everyone is ignoring it because they don’t want to get stuck in a culture war about health food.’

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: ‘There is a concern that dealing with these issues could be seen to be ‘Nanny state’… There is a concern that we need to be celebrating the great British diets of fish and chips and curry and beer and that junk food is somehow patriotic.’

He described this approach as ‘insane’, adding: ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’ This week, Mr Dimbleby publishes a new book called Ravenous, which talks about his experiences as the government’s food tsar during a period which covered Covid, Brexit and the war in the Ukraine.

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