Iceland boss reveals Rishi Sunak advised him off for telling reality on foodbank use

The boss of Iceland has told how Rishi Sunak gave him a roasting for speaking out about soaring foodbank use.

Richard Walker said the then-Chancellor was only angry as he had to “face questions” on the shocking scandal. For many struggling families foodbanks are a vital lifeline – but it appears that for Mr Sunak they are an inconvenient truth he would rather not talk about.

Campaigning Iceland boss Richard claimed he was scolded by the PM for speaking about the schemes that have soared in number during 14 years of Tories. Mr Sunak was seemingly not angry about the fact people are so ­hard-up they need foodbanks but that he had to fend off questions about them.

Mr Walker, who quit the Tories last year over their policies and now backs Labour, told how he had a meeting with Mr Sunak in March 2022, which he thought was about his bid to stand as an MP for the party.

He said: “At the end [of the meeting] he said, ‘There is one other thing. When you said you wanted to be a Tory candidate, I was shocked, because I just thought you were some Leftie, because your comments about foodbanks on the day of my spring statement were not helpful because I was having to answer questions in parliament about it.’ I thought I had gone in for a pat on the head, and I was getting a bit of a b******ing.”

Mr Walker had ­simply told how some foodbank users were avoiding potatoes as they could not afford the energy to boil them. He added: “He was clearly quite p***ed off. It really wound him up.”

Mr Walker speaks passionately about a range of social issues from the environment and climate change to the cost-of-living crisis, but he said he was warned by the Tories to “just wind it in a bit”. It came after his bid to be selected as an MP was blocked by the party. Mr Walker believes it was because of his “media profile”.

He claims he was told: “Some of the things you are saying are grating and not currying favour with the right people in the party.” He added: “From talking out about the issues I really cared about, I clearly p***ed off some people at the centre of power.”

Former Tory donor Mr Walker told how he was climbing Mount Everest raising £1million for charity when he decided to quit the Tory party.

The Surfers Against Sewage chairman added: “I realised, I am my own person, I have my own views and voice. If I’m not being allowed to talk about the state of rivers or seas, or to ­champion net zero policies then I don’t really want to be part of that. It was a bit of an epiphany. I realised they don’t want ­independent thinkers, they want cannon fodder. People who will wind their neck in and do as they are told. They saw me as a loose cannon. I was kind of sick to the back teeth with it.”

Mr Walker believes Keir Starmer will be a good PM. Speaking of his decision to back him, he said: “I just thought Labour had better answers, better solutions. I juxtapose Rishi’s reaction to my foodbanks comments, his ‘that’s not true, you’re wrong’, versus a conversation with Keir about the scourge of shoplifting and the violent abuse of my staff. I could see it in his eyes, the guy has empathy, he genuinely gets it.”

Mr Walker will be voting Labour but warned he does not agree with all their policies, one being scrapping VAT relief for private schools. He added: “I’m sure there is plenty we will disagree on.”

Iceland has released its own ­manifesto called Frozen Out, which will give customers and staff say on a range of issues such as living costs. A Tory source said of Mr Walker’s claims about the meeting with Mr Sunak: “This is completely made up.”