New Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi once insisted that poor parents “actually prefer” to pay a “modest sum” for their kids’ school meals.
Boris Johnson sacked disastrous Gavin Williamson and replaced him with multi-millionaire Mr Zahawi, who is also Vaccines Minister, in a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.
Back in October last year, when ministers were under pressure from campaigning football star Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals, Mr Zahawi claimed hard-up parents did not want food for their kids to be completely free.
The bungling former oil executive – who once billed taxpayers for heating his horses’ stables – claimed they wanted to pay “£1 or £2” instead.
The Prime Minister chose to do his reshuffle on the day of a vote aimed at stopping the £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit, which is predicted to plunge families into poverty this winter.
The Government ignored the vote and the cut will come into force at the end of this month.
