Jamie Oliver says he has “no faith” in Liz Truss’s willingness to help poor children as he accused the Tories of lacking “kindness”.
The TV chef hit out as he called for 800,000 more disadvantaged children to be made eligible for free school meals.
He also denied being part of the “anti-growth coalition” the prime minister accused of holding Britain back.
In her Tory party conference speech last week, Truss made clear her opposition to the government’s previous commitment to tackling obesity by saying she was “not interested in how many two-for-one offers you buy at the supermarket”.
Afterwards, Number 10 failed to deny that Oliver - who has campaigned for Brits to eat more healthily - was among those in the prime minister’s sights.
Asked on Radio Four’s Today programme whether he was part of the “anti-growth coalition” attacked by Truss.
He said: “Completely not, I’ve spent a lifetime not only employing ovewr 20,000 people, but travelling round the world saying how brilliant Britain is and that’s what we need to do as a country.”
In a direct attack on Truss, who has previously hailed the post-Brexit trade deals done by the UK, Oliver added: “We have an incredible country, but just doing quick trade deals to the lowest common denominator and threatening British farming and British producers is completely bonkers.
“The reality is if you speak to the best minds in economics in the country, in the world, they will tell you that if you output healthier kids you’re going to have a more productive, more profitable country, better GDP.
“To do that you have to think in 10-20 years, not three-year cycles. I’ve been through six prime ministers, thirteen education secretaries, and none of them have taken seriously managing child health.”
Asked for his views on Truss, Oliver said: “I have no faith. We have been tracking her and her views for six/seven years. She’s not going to change. She has a view, that’s it.
“The older me can be a bit calmer because she will be a ship that passes in the night and I’m actually quite calm about the whole thing.”
And on the Tory Party, he said: “I think kindness needs to be injected through this party if they’ve got any chance and I don’t know if they’ve got it in them to show this kindness.”
Oliver, a father-of-five, is spearheading a campaign to lower the threshold at which children become eligible for free school meals.
At the moment, anyone from a household earning more than £7,400 a year does not qualify.
He told Radio Four’s Today programme: “If they were to open the threshold of who would be allowed to have a free school lunch, that would also inject funds into the system that would also really help to guarantee a much better service across 26,000 schools in the country.”