Rashford 2 Bozo 0

Having beaten alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson over provision of free school meals once, Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is set to put a second through Bozo’s shaky defence, after he advocated for the scheme to continue through Autumn half-term and the Christmas break, and the Tories declined.

Back of the net

As a result, a petition was started and thus far has amassed over 290,000 signatories. So Labour is pushing for a Commons vote, to expose those on the Government benches to a little public scrutiny. There will be a debate tomorrow, with Angela Rayner leading for the opposition. That’s the same Angela Rayner who did Bozo up like a turkey at PMQs.

The Guardian has told readers “In a letter to each Tory MP, the shadow children and early years minister, Tulip Siddiq, set out the number of children on free school meals in their constituency … She said: ‘Families across the country are worrying about how to make ends meet but the prime minister is ruling out giving over a million children food support over the holidays. Every Conservative MP now has an opportunity to make it clear that they will support the families in their constituency who are worrying about how they will put food on the table in the weeks ahead.’” Or be shown up for being hermetically tight.

Nadhim Zahawi - a very stables genius

So far, the Tories have remained unmoved. As Stig Abell of Murdoch property Times Radio told earlier, “Nadhim Zahawi tells [Times Radio] that it is not just as simple as ‘writing a big cheque’ to pay for free school meals over the course of half term”. The problem for Zahawi, quite apart from the stable heating jokes, is that it really is just that simple.

David Schneider was unimpressed. “WHAT YOU CAN WRITE A BIG CHEQUE FOR: £100bn for Operation Moonshot … £12bn for failed Test & Trace … £3bn+ to pals for PPE that often doesn’t work … £1bn+ for post-Brexit border … £7k a day management consultants … WHAT YOU CAN’T WRITE A CHEQUE FOR: Starving kids”.

But once again, Bozo and his pals are likely to be forced to change tack because of actions taken away from Westminster. After MSP and Scottish secretary for social security and older people Shirley-Anne Somerville announced that the administration at Holyrood would make funds available to continue the scheme, the Welsh Assembly Government having already taken the same step, the game was effectively up.

As Paul Waugh at the HuffPost summed up, “More pressure on No.10 on free school meals as [Nicola Sturgeon]’s Scottish govt now gives £10m to Scottish councils for Xmas, feb and Easter holidays. So, [Marcus Rashford’s] new campaign has had impact in Wales and Scotland … England's turn next..?” It’s looking increasingly likely.

Or Bozo and Co can go through the humiliation of Ms Rayner putting them on the defensive tomorrow, backed by MPs from Labour and other opposition parties, and then having their votes recorded for posterity, so that their grateful constituents can remember just where they stood on supporting their less well-off voters.

Then Bozo might start to get the message. But don’t bet on it.

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