Do the Tories even know why they’re fighting Marcus Rashford?

What is the Conservative case for facing down Marcus Rashford on free school meals during the holidays? Ask a handful of Tory MPs, including the Prime Minister, and they’ll throw out a contradictory mess of answers. Many of those who are most uneasy with the way the government has refused to U-turn on the matter suspect it is merely the Treasury trying to draw the line after an endless splurge of spending over the past few months. But they are uncomfortable that this is where the line has been drawn. Rows about children always get cut-through in politics. Rows about children and food even more so.

You don’t have to have a particularly long memory or good knowledge of niche facts about the 1970s to recognise the line ‘Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher’. She spent years regretting her decision to end free milk for junior school children when she was education secretary.