PM’s diet sees pasties ditched alongside bread

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The Prime Minister David Cameron has given up the Cornish Pasty, just weeks after he announced his decision to stop eating bread.

The carb-ditching MP told BBC Radio Cornwall that “Pasties are not part of my diet at the moment”, but continued to say that he looked forward to eating them again when the diet was over.

When asked by the radio station where he buys his Cornish pasties, Cameron replied: “I go to Polzeath surfing. There are a number of very good places where you can get a pasty in Polzeath. I wouldn’t want to single one out in case I put the mark of Cain on them.

“I am on a diet. Pasties are not part of my diet at the moment. But I’m looking forward [to when] - by the time I next get back to Cornwall, hopefully sometime this summer - the diet will be over and the pasties will begin again.”

Mike Holling, executive director at the Craft Bakers Association said: "I was very disappointed when I saw he had given them up, at the end of the day this doesn’t help the bakers in the Devon and Cornwall area at all, it’s negative publicity.

"My question is, what will he give up next? I wait with bated breath."

Pasty tax

In the pasty tax controversy of 2012, Cameron publicly announced his love of the Cornish bake, saying, “I am a pasty-eater myself. I go to Cornwall on holiday. I love a hot pasty.” Despite this, he continued to defend the decision to slap VAT on all sales of the hot snack.

Cameron’s latest diet move comes after he told BBC Radio Sussex he was ‘off bread’ at the moment. Following this, British Baker fired up the #WeLoveBread campaign, encouraging bakers to promote the loaf and defend the common misconception that bread is bad for you.

Baking industry bodies have responded by writing letters to Cameron, questioning his decision to give up bread and pointing out the benefits of eating it as part of a balanced diet.

The #WeLoveBread campaign has so far drummed up support for the loaf on social media, by encouraging bakers to tweet which recipes and special loaves they are selling at the moment, each Friday, with the hashtag #LoveBreadFriday.