Peter Mandelson has received a lighthearted rebuke that “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” after he was accused of “fat shaming” Keir Starmer.
The Labour peer was discussing the importance of presentation in politics when he compared the Labour leader’s appearance to the likes of Rishi Sunak.
He said clothes and appearance were “not unimportant” in politics, noting on the Times Radio podcast How to Win an Election that “Starmer needs to shed a few pounds and that would be an improvement”.
Mandelson recalled encouraging the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock to move away from “regimental style” dark-coloured ties, to ones with more small white polka dots”.
He accused Tony Blair of not “compensating” him after he bought him a large amount of “expensive, colourful” ties “that showed boldness and confidence”.
Even Gordon Brown was criticised for “being into brain power” instead of “tie power” as he often opted for bold red-coloured ties.
Sunak has been widely criticised for his skinny suits, with Mandelson noting it “diminishes him rather than expands him”.
In an effort to be even-handed, he went for Starmer’s body weight.
In response, Wes Streeting told LBC: “As the shadow health secretary I’m against that kind of fat shaming, Peter Mandelson should know better. Let me tell you we have seen the odd paunch from [Peter] over the years so in glass houses people shouldn’t throw stones.”
Starmer was a vegetarian for almost 30 years but now eats fish. He told the Table Manners podcast last year his children were raised as vegetarians but allowed to choose their own diet after they turned 10.
In a biography by Tom Baldwin, the Labour leader confessed to indulging in a takeaway box of chicken when on the last train home to London from Sheffield during his tenure as shadow Brexit secretary.
He said he was handed a takeaway box, adding: “I opened it sitting on a freezing-cold station platform and found it was chicken. I wasn’t going to get anything else at that time of night, so I ate every morsel – and very good it tasted too.”
