Kemi Badenoch has declared that lunch is "for wimps" and sandwiches aren't “real food”.
The Tory leader instead said she sometimes eats steak as she works, dismissing sandwiches as "what you have for breakfast". Her light-hearted remarks sparked a backlash, with Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway saying: "It's made our viewers very cross".
Describing her daily routine in an interview with The Spectator Ms Badenoch said: "What's a lunch break? Lunch is for wimps. I have food brought in and I work and eat at the same time."
She went on to say she is "not a sandwich person", sometimes getting a steak. The Tory leader went on: "I don't think sandwiches are a real food, it's what you have for breakfast."
She added that she "will not touch bread if it’s moist”. Discussing the remarks on the ITV morning show, former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said: "I get where she's coming on with sandwiches because, you know, those of us we have low carb diets and all of that sort of business, but it's an individual choice.
"I don't think that's going to be a plank of the next Tory manifesto." He jokingly distanced himself from the controversial remark, saying: "I don't think she's expressing a party line or anything."
Ms Garraway said viewers were up in arms about Ms Badenoch's attack on sandwiches. She read responses from the public, saying: "Bill says most of us don't get subsidised meals, they can't spend an hour or more for lunch so eating sandwiches is handy on the hoof."
The host went on to say that another viewer, named Debbie, said many are eating sandwiches because they don't need power to cook them. Ms Garraway said: "In fact, lots of viewers have said that they're deciding whether to have a cooked lunch or dinner or have a sandwich and put another load of washing on."