Boris Johnson, the free school meals game is up. Stop trying to score points against Marcus Rashford

Editorial: It’s only a matter of time before the government’s own supporters, alarmed at the strength of public opinion, force the inevitable U-turn

The prime minister has said he doesn’t want to see children going hungry at Christmas (PA)

Taking the prime minister at his own word, admittedly always a hazardous exercise, there is not that much of a difference between Boris Johnson and Marcus Rashford, apart from some divergence in their fan bases. Mr Rashford would surely agree with the prime minister’s declaration that “we don’t want to see children going hungry this Christmas”. Who does?

In framing the debate in terms of agreement on ends but disagreement on means, the prime minister seeks to both de-escalate an increasingly emotive and politically damaging crisis; but also to avoid too blatant a reversal of established policy. The prime minister, his ministers and his more loyal, and Thatcherite, backbenchers have, until recently, explicitly ruled out extending free school meals to the Christmas break. They may have performed a U-turn in the summer, but it was not going to happen again. Money has been provided to local authorities and through universal credit, goes the argument, and those are the best ways of reaching the most vulnerable. 

The line, with some heavy whipping, was sufficient to see off a Labour-sponsored Commons vote and a nascent Tory rebellion. The use of the word “scum” in the Commons chamber by the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, provided a helpful distraction for embarrassed Tories. 

However, Mr Rashford was not satisfied, and he is looking to score the winner. The prime minister’s defence is being pressed intensively, and his backbench full-backs – Steve Baker, Ben Bradley, Selaine Saxby – have been nutmegged neatly by Mr Rashford. Matt Hancock, playing in an unfamiliar position, even gifted Mr Rashford an opening by claiming he and the prime minister had been in talks, with the Manchester United forward saying that he had not heard from Mr Johnson since the summer.  

There is an art to executing a U-turn, changing direction with the minimum of fuss, and Mr Johnson has not perfected it. There is a clear pattern that indicates a severe lack of policy and political preparation in decision-making, in virtually every field. Time and again policies are launched before they have been properly tested, only to be withdrawn and “refined”.  

The problem now is that there is no obviously better way of providing nutritious meals to poorer children than extending free school meal vouchers. If local councils, universal credit uplifts and voluntary action were the answer, the row would be over by now. 

The prime minister might be looking to invent some other new scheme that is free school meal vouchers in all but name, but there’s not really the time to invent and implement it within a stretched civil service. 

Indeed, both Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock have referred to £63m which had been made available to councils to help those struggling to afford food during the coronavirus pandemic. But an official update published 12 weeks ago on 4 August said that “the government anticipates that most of the funding will be spent within 12 weeks”. 

In any case, the summer extension was an obvious success and can be easily introduced again. The Conservative MPs who complain about “nationalising children”, and stress the need for charitable help, miss the point. Voluntary action such as The Independent’s own Help The Hungry campaign can never replace comprehensive school meals, and nor should it. 

Charities are there to supplement existing arrangements, both in delivering food to community groups that know how to use it best, and by innovating and stimulating new thinking, for example by cutting food waste and stressing fresh, nutritious ingredients as well as processed and preserved produce.  

Every indication is that the government knows the game is up, and it’s only a matter of time before its own supporters, alarmed at the strength of public opinion, force the inevitable U-turn. They cannot be happy that Labour has, at last, pulled ahead in the opinion polls and all for the sake of such a relatively small sum of money. The prime minister has bigger, better fights to win than his goalmouth melee with Mr Rashford.