‘I miss meat’: Labour’s Keir Starmer reveals he is vegetarian but still pines for a bacon sarnie

The Opposition Leader admitted that his meat-free diet was not easy – and he still pines for bacon sandwiches and a chicken curry

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is trying to distance his party from the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. But he revealed they have one thing in common today: They are both vegetarians. 

Sir Keir confirmed on Sky’s Ridge on Sunday that he has been a vegetarian for many years, and that his wife Victoria was also one.

But the Opposition Leader admitted that his meat-free diet was not easy – and he still pines for bacon sandwiches and a chicken curry. 

Mr Corbyn was famously a strict vegetarian with his own allotment who at one point said he was ‘going through the process’ of turning into a vegan – but stopped short of taking the full plunge.

Sir Keir is in good company as a fan of bacon sarnies – his predecessor Ed Miliband’s time as party leader between 2010 and 2015 was overshadowed by a hugely unflattering picture of him chomping a butty in 2014.

The current Labour leader confirmed today that he had been given up meat years ago for health an environmental reasons, but that it was not plain sailing.

 Sir Keir is in good company as a fan of bacon sarnies – his predecessor Ed Miliband’s time as party leader between 2010 and 2015 was overshadowed by a hugely unflattering picture of him chomping a butty in 2014

Mr Corbyn was famously a strict vegetarian with his own allotment who at one point said he was ‘going through the process’ of turning into a vegan – but stopped short of taking the full plunge

He told Ridge: ‘ I gave up as a matter of principle years ago on the basis that eating meat wasn’t the right thing for the body and the planet but I have to say, I miss meat.’

Asked what he specifically missed he looked whistful as he added: ‘Oh, bacon sandwiches, chicken curry, you name it, almost everything! 

‘So, this is hard work for me but my wife has been vegetarian for many years longer than I have so … ‘ 

In 2017 Jeremy Corbyn suggested he was turning vegan after around 50 years as a vegetarian.

The Labour leader was speaking at an event organised by the eco-brand Lush, where he praised veganism and said he was delighted by the movement’s growth.

Mr Corbyn was asked whether he was now planning to ‘make the logical next step to veganism’.

The Labour leader responded: ‘It’s a fair question. I eat more and more vegan food, and I have more and more vegan friends, indeed there are quite a lot of vegan MPs, actually, not a lot, but there are some.

‘I think what has improved so much is vegetarian and vegan food has got so much better in recent years.

‘One of my close relatives has just become a vegan and I went to her house for dinner and it was absolutely brilliant.

‘So I’m going through the process, all right? I won’t go any further than that.’

Labour sources later emphasised that Mr Corbyn actually has no plans to cut out milk or eggs and that he was being light-hearted at the convention. Sources close to the Labour leader said he is too partial to Somerset brie to go fully vegan.