Cherie's school dinner snub

Cherie Blair thinks meals at her son Leo's school are so unhealthy that she may give him a packed lunch instead.

Her comments came as the Prime Minister hailed his £220 million pledge to spend more on school meals in the wake of a campaign by TV chef Jamie Oliver.

Leo, four, is understood to attend a highly-rated school in central London, although Downing Street refuse to give details.

Mrs Blair praised a healthy eating drive at a Birmingham school on the election campaign trail today but then told parents of her plans for her youngest son's food. Mrs Blair said of the meals on offer: "They are not terrific, to be honest. I am seriously thinking about sending him in with a packed lunch."

Oliver presented a petition to the Prime Minister last month prompting a total overhaul in the way schools control the quality of food for pupils.

Mrs Blair said today she was hoping the reforms would reach Leo's school quickly. "Seeing the Jamie Oliver programme, you could think school dinners all over the place were bad," she said. "But that's not the case. Here is an example of what can be done to get children eating fresh and healthy food."

Mrs Blair met pupils at the World's End Lane school while her husband was in Birmingham delivering his party's new pledges on improving public health.

Mrs Blair also took a tour of the school kitchens and was impressed to see a vegetable steamer and a good selection of fresh produce.

"Many pupils could be eating their main meal of the day here so it's great to see fresh vegetables such as broccoli and sprouts," she said. "It's very impressive and very important, but I have to say I can't get Tony to eat his broccoli."

As Mrs Blair spoke, Children's Minister Margaret Hodge also stressed that school meals played a "key part" for all children and that for some it was the main meal of the day. She claimed that the Tories' abolition of nutritional standards for school meals showed they had "washed their hands" of the issue.

She said Labour would put £210 million of investment into school meals to ensure that no primary school spends less than 50p and no secondary school less than 60p on ingredients for each meal.