On 21 May 2014, a photograph was taken of the Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, awkwardly eating a bacon sandwich. The moment was captured during an early morning visit to New Covent Garden Market in London – a routine photo opportunity in the run-up to local and European elections.

The photograph, snapped by Jeremy Selwyn, a photographer from the Evening Standard, showed Miliband with a strained expression as he struggled to eat the sandwich.

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The image was seized upon by sections of the press and Miliband’s political opponents to insinuate that he was out of touch, ungainly, and ultimately not prime minister material. The photograph was hence presented as a visual shorthand for Miliband’s perceived deficiencies.

Miliband did win some sympathy, including from Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister. “I think this is very unfair because I don’t think anyone looks very elegant”, Clegg told LBC Radio on 29 May. “I thought it was a bit unfair on poor Ed Miliband.”

Nigel Farage, then leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip), later made headlines for eating a bacon sandwich successfully – a ploy to portray him as more in touch with voters.

In July 2014, Miliband mounted something of a counter-attack, admitting he was not a politician from “central casting”.

He declared in a speech to Labour activists: “You could probably even find people who look better eating a bacon sandwich. If you want the politician from central casting, it’s just not me, it’s the other guy. If you want a politician who thinks that a good photo is the most important thing, then don’t vote for me.”

In December 2014, David Cameron raised the bacon sandwich incident in a session of prime minister’s questions (PMQs). Looking ahead to the autumn statement, Cameron warned Miliband that he would soon “be looking as awkward as when he ate that bacon sandwich”.

During the 2015 general election campaign, the Sun splashed the infamous image on its final front page before polling day under the headline: “Save Our Bacon”.

https://x.com/TheSun/status/595873640203350016

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Labour ultimately lost 26 seats at the 2015 general election. Cameron secured a second consecutive term as prime minister and a Conservative majority in the House of Commons.

Miliband resigned as Labour leader in the aftermath of the election, saying it was “time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party”.

Of course, the electoral impact of Miliband’s bacon sandwich incident – or “bacongate” – remains a matter of debate. The influence of such pork-themed impropriety does not lend itself easily to rigorous empirical analysis. But the surrounding saga is nonetheless cited as an example of the power of image and personality in modern political campaigning.

The bacon sandwich photo remains one of the most enduring images of Miliband’s tenure as Labour leader. And the former cabinet minister has regularly been invited to reflect on the episode, and even to reclaim his dignity.

In April 2017, Miliband posed for a new photograph with a bacon sandwich during an appearance on the satirical television programme The Last Leg. Straddling a motorbike and sporting sunglasses, the former Labour leader was told to “break the internet” with a replacement bacon-related snap.

During the 2017 general election campaign, Theresa May, Cameron’s successor as prime minister, was pictured awkwardly eating some chips during a visit to Cornwall – inviting comparisons with “bacongate”.

In a viral tweet, Miliband responded: “[Theresa may] we should talk…”

https://x.com/Ed_Miliband/status/859501653145395201

In 2008, Miliband’s brother, David, was similarly ridiculed for a food-themed gaffe. The then-foreign secretary was pictured arriving at Labour conference in 2008 with a banana. The press, and allies of Gordon Brown, seized on the image.

https://x.com/DMiliband/status/997136086613839873