Rishi Sunak mocked for badly-timed attempt to promote Eat Out To Help Out scheme

Rishi Sunak created a wave of cognitive dissonance this morning with his latest tweet essentially urging people to eat out at restaurants on the very same day the government officially launched its new strategy to urging people to lose weight.

In a strange acrostic spelling out “Eat Out Help Out”, the chancellor of the exchequer included restaurants in the new scheme that will create a discount for diners to take advantage of in August, in order to encourage more members of the public to eat out at restaurants since the easing of coronavirus lockdown measures in England.

The discount will allow customers a maximum discount of £10 off per person, including children. It will be available to use by consumers on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the month.

Not only was the tweet’s bizarre spelling-out PR style choice criticised, others were stunned and concerned by the irony of its overlap with the government's new plan to tackle obesity.

The plan includes calorie-labelling in restaurants and banning adverts for high fat, salt or sugar products. Many people pointed out the bizarre timing of the mixed messaging.

"Lose weight now with these GREAT RESTAURANT DEALS!" one user on Twitter joked.

"EAT OUT (but order the salad, no dressing)," another person said, adding it was an "outrageous double standard."

Whether this was some kind of bizarre PR stunt to somehow counteract the political wellness campaign that many think was done in very poor taste, or merely just a ridiculous timing, clearly the government needs to get its act together.