Boris Johnson says the Church of England is to blame for Britain’s obesity crisis because it has failed to provide people with “spiritual sustenance”.
The former prime minister said that in his youth, it was “very rare for there to be a fatso in the class. Now they’re all fatsos, and I’d be shot for saying they’re fatsos, but it’s the truth.”
Criticising the head of the Church of England Justin Welby, Johnson also hit out at a host of other religious leaders for not dealing with “people’s spiritual needs”.
The ex-PM’s comments form part of a new report compiled by author Henry Dimbleby and Dolly Van Tulleken, a public health expert.
He was one of three former prime ministers interviewed as part of the study.
At one point, he recounted a recent trip to church, saying: “I went to church yesterday, I was one of about ten people. Well, I mean 15 if you added up my family. It was all about how rich men can’t go through the eye of a needle, all that sort of pot.
“Why aren’t people going to church? Because it’s not really addressing the things… people’s spiritual needs. There’s something going on with people, they’re needing a lack of something, they’re eating it, they’re not getting it.
“You talk about living bread of spiritual sustenance, well, it’s not being provided by the blooming church, I can tell you that much. The living bread is being provided by Tesco.”
Asked about the comments, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said they “don’t quite follow his line of thinking”.
And to be fair, they’re certainly not alone.