William Hague attacks Boris Johnson as weak and immoral over obesity plan U-turn

William Hague has attacked Boris Johnson’s decision to shelve his obesity action plan as weak and immoral, warning Britain will pay a high price for it.

The former Conservative leader said the U-turn – delaying action on cheap fatty foods and TV advertising of them – will be added to the “long history of failed obesity strategies”.

Tory MPs who pushed the prime minister into the climbdown are “acquiescing in a future of higher dependence, greater costs, reduced lifestyle choice and endless pain,” he warned.

Lord Hague said: “For the government to give in to them is intellectually shallow, politically weak and morally reprehensible.”

The criticism echoes that of food campaigners, including the TV chef Jamie Oliver who attacked a “wasted opportunity” and said a world-leading obesity plan was “falling apart”.

Last Friday, the government announced a one-year delay, until October 2023, to a planned ban on “buy one get one free” (Bogof) deals for food and drinks high in fat, salt or sugar, plus free refills for soft drinks.

Restrictions TV advertising of junk foods before the 9pm watershed and paid-for online adverts were also shelved, until January 2024.

But Lord Hague, writing in The Times: “Many Tories object to the ‘nanny state’ image of anti-obesity policies and think it is ‘un-Conservative’ to pursue them.

“As a former Tory leader, I emphatically disagree with this interpretation of conservatism.

“Conservatives support freedom of choice but have always seen that it is sometimes necessary to prevent consumers being abused or misled.”

The U-turn comes after Mr Johnson had already dismayed health campaigners by ruling out a £3bn junk food tax, saying he was not “attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people”.

The levy of £3 a kilogram on sugar and £6 a kilogram on salt sold for use in processed food and in restaurants would have raised money to expand free school meals and change attitudes to food.

A similar levy on soft drinks in 2018 led to a number of products being reformulated to reduce sugar levels, which meant prices for consumers did not rise.

The climbdowns come despite the prime minister launching a so-called war on obesity, after believing his very serious bout of coronavirus in 2020 was worsened by being overweight.

Lord Hague, the Tory leader from 1997 to 2001, said food companies had an “overwhelming incentive” to design products that led people down a “chemically induced addiction to foods”.

“We should be able to focus resources on those who are unavoidably ill and disabled,” he wrote.

“Covid hit us harder because of widespread obesity. If we fail to control diet-related diseases, on top of paying for an ageing population, there will be no possibility of lower taxes in the future,” he said.