The sad decline of the Westminster lunch

‘Lunch?’ growled Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. ‘Lunch is for wimps.’ Yet for half of Westminster the noble art of lunching is as much a part of political life as PMQs. For generations, hacks, flacks and MPs of all sides have wined and dined in various London establishments. Whether it is the pubs of SW1 or the wineries of Victoria, Kensington restaurants or the dive bars of Soho, many a long lunch has been enjoyed by the great and the not-so-good of British politics.

Is that all now under threat? For Mr S was disturbed last week to discover that Rachel Reeves not only prepares her own lunch but takes it to work at the Treasury in a Tupperware container. A Chancellor eating from a lunchbox? Wouldn’t have happened in Roy Jenkins’s time. 

Reeves isn’t the only one. When it comes to the current government, Mr S understands that Keir Starmer will often have a sandwich for lunch at his desk – ideally with little packaging.