When recently-ousted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was asked in a national television interview what his last meal in Downing Street would be, he revealed that he is a “big sandwich person”. I laughed out loud, wondering if his response simply reflected his complete lack of imagination, or whether it concealed an ulterior motive. Food is seen as another way for politicians to connect with voters by demonstrating that they are ‘regular people’. Instead, such episodes merely underscore how unlike the rest of our species these creatures actually are. This then begs the question: Are most politicians really human?
In the first quarter of the 21st Century, it already feels as if we’re living in Invasion of the Body Snatchers or an episode of the 1983 TV mini-series V. Alien interlopers – having gone to enormous lengths to hide their true identity and ‘blend in’ – suddenly begin to betray themselves in the most mundane ways. We don’t get to see politicians use the bathroom or have sex (well, not that often), but of the basic human bodily functions, eating is one that is not only acceptable in public, it is positively encouraged. It’s one of our most beloved social bonding activities, one that many politicians struggle mightily with. But if you’re used to swallowing live rats whole, tackling a sandwich must seem like a very tall order.
Who could forget the moment in 2014 when Labour leader Ed Miliband struggled to eat a bacon sandwich in a manner even remotely resembling human?
Then there was the time in 1990 when Environment Secretary John Selwyn Gummer, in an effort to refute the growing evidence for BSE (mad cow disease), offered his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a burger in front of press cameras, which she declined but he consumed. 178 humans died.
Stateside, here’s Texas governor Rick Perry deep-throating a corn dog at the 2011 Iowa State Fair.
And Hillary Clinton going down on a choc-ice at the same event.
Oddly enough, Donald Trump fares rather better in this 1995 television ad for Pizza Hut.
In the end, it’s worth remembering that John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich and self-proclaimed inventor of same, was a politician. Or was he…?
