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Heidi Alexander responds to Sarah Vine’s weight jibe

As the wife of Michael Gove, Sarah Vine has been subject to her fair share of political swiping. Still, the Daily Mail columnist is not afraid to give as good as she gets, having previously criticised fellow politician’s wife Justine Miliband for her bland kitchenette.

Today it was the turn of the new shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander to be on the receiving end of Vine’s acerbic prose. Writing in her Daily Mail column, Vine said that Alexander needed to ‘lay off the Hobnobs’ as she was ‘not exactly the picture of health’:

‘Jeremy Corbyn has appointed a vegan to look after farmers, a woman he’s never met to Shadow Education and someone who looks like she needs to lay off the Hobnobs to Health. Not all politicians have to live and breathe their brief, and people in glass houses (me) probably shouldn’t throw stones — but Heidi Alexander is not exactly the picture of health, is she?’

Alexander has now responded.

Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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