Jamie takes campaign to Downing Street

Friday, 1 April 2005 12:00 AM

Jamie Oliver returned to the headlines this week, taking his campaign to get Turkey Twizzlers off the menu to the very top.

On Wednesday the celebrity chef delivered a petition demanding a radical improvement in food standards in schools to Downing Street.

Following his visit, the Government announced a £280 million package to improve school dinners, but Education Secretary Ruth Kelly denied the Government were jumping on Jamie Oliver's bandwagon (full story).

In another carry over from the previous week, the sacking of Howard Flight dominated the news over the Easter weekend and continued into the first half of the new week. Mr Flight resigned as Conservative deputy chairman after he was secretly taped making a speech in which he hinted that his party was hiding the true scale of its planned spending cuts, but he was also told by Mr Howard that he would not be allowed to seek re-election (full story).

The Conservative leader defended his decision, saying he could not keep an MP who misrepresented the party's plans (full story). And the row rumbled on into Monday and Tuesday with Mr Flight refusing to accept the decision not to allow him to stand (full story), while Mr Howard stood firm (full story).

On Sunday, the Tories were also hit by a new poll which put them 12 points (full story) behind Labour. By Thursday, the Tories decided they had had enough of being called Tory, as revealed by a leaked email in which the Tories asked broadcasters to call them Conservative "at least once" in a report.

The week also featured the more typical election battlegrounds of crime and healthcare. On Tuesday, the Liberal Democrats unveiled their "liberal vision" for tackling crime, (full story); while the Conservatives detailed plans for a new border police force (full story) and said that yobs and hooligans must be made to "fear" the police once more (full story).

Tony Blair, meanwhile, returning to his so-called masochism strategy, was taken to task on NHS dentistry by members of the audience on a live TV show (full story); and Health Secretary John Reid said Labour would give NHS patients better access to GPs (full story).

As another week drew to a close, with only days left before Mr Blair is expected to call a general election, Cabinet ministers met to discuss the Labour manifesto (full story); and the Liberal Democrats repeated their vow to scrap council tax (full story).

On Friday, Labour revealed its plans to extend home ownership (full story), and launched a new poster carrying the slogan "Interest rates halved with Labour". The Conservatives vowed to slash red tape (full story).

Elsewhere, the SNP's election campaign was boosted by the news that Sir Sean Connery would make a "substantial" contribution to their coffers (full story).

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