Olivia Falcigno for USA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his nation has become a land of “fatsoes” — partly blaming church leaders for “farting on about Brexit or whatever” instead of worrying about junk food.
Johnson, whose own weight has fluctuated over the years, roasted the Chruch of England for ignoring “people’s spiritual needs,” leading congregants to load up on baked goods.
“You talk about living bread of spiritual sustenance, well, it’s not being provided by the blooming church, I can tell you that much,” Johnson told the authors of a national report on obesity that interviewed 20 British political leaders, including three former prime ministers.
Johnson blamed the rise in obesity among children on them “sitting on screens and being told that it’s all too dangerous to go outside.”
“When I was a kid, it was very rare for there to be a fatso in the class,” he said. “Now they’re all fatsoes, and I’d be shot for saying they’re fatsoes, but that’s the truth.”
He said older people “are also pretty sedentary because of technology,” claiming that the clergy should be focused on that issue and its consequences.
“Instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury balling on about slavery reparations, he should ask himself why people in this country are so bloody fat,” he said of Justin Welby, who recently resigned.
“And the Archbishop of Canterbury and religious leaders should try to fill what is obviously an aching spiritual void in people’s lives, that drives them to gorge themselves,” he said.
A Church of England spokesman said Welby has no comment on Johnson’s statements.
Welby earlier this month said he would resign following a report that he responded inadequately to a sexual abuse scandal brought to his attention more than a decade ago. Welby will leave office on January 6, the church later said.