Prue Leith quits Conservative Party in protest at Government’s stance over foods standards

Prue Leith has quit the Conservative Party after the Government blocked an attempt to enshrine high food standards in law.

Two weeks ago the 80-year-old Bake Off judge gave her backing to The Mail on Sunday’s campaign to stop the UK being flooded with inferior food as a result of a post-Brexit trade deal with America.

A Conservative source told The Mail on Sunday Ms Leith has since cancelled her party membership after growing unhappy with the Government’s stance. The source said: ‘This means no more cakes for the local association.’

Ms Leith’s son Danny Kruger, the Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, voted with the Government on the Agriculture Bill, defeating an amendment that would have protected British farmers.

Prue Leith (pictured) has quit the Conservative Party after the Government blocked an attempt to enshrine high food standards in law

But Ms Leith had said of the vote: ‘Everybody who cares about British high food standards should back our farmers. After all, we are what we eat.’

On Friday, angry farmers drove a convoy of tractors through the market town of Marlborough in Mr Kruger’s constituency to demand that the 45-year-old MP ‘listens to his mother’.

Rally organiser Liz Webster, founder of campaign group Save British Farming, claimed the Agricultural Bill in its current form would ‘decimate British farming’.

‘The Tories promised in their manifesto that they wouldn’t compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards but that is exactly what they’re doing,’ she said. 

‘British farmers are being sold down the river. I’m sure Mr Kruger’s mother didn’t feed him chlorine-washed chicken or hormone-injected beef when he was young.’

Nick Bush, 71, who runs a 12,000-acre farm in Chippenham, accused the Tories of lying. ‘How can they say one thing in their manifesto and then ignore it?’ he asked. 

Ms Leith’s son Danny Kruger (pictured with her), the Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, voted with the Government on the Agriculture Bill, defeating an amendment that would have protected British farmers

Danny Kruger

Ms Leith’s son Danny Kruger (pictured left, with her, and right, posing for a Parliament photo), the Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, voted with the Government on the Agriculture Bill, defeating an amendment that would have protected British farmers

‘If we have lower standards coming in, it’s going to undercut us completely. Our family farm won’t survive.’

The rally was held in anticipation of the Agricultural Bill ‘ping-ponging’ back to the House of Commons early next month after the Lords last week voted in favour of strengthening standards for imported food.

Farming Minister Victoria Prentis has insisted that the Government is ‘absolutely committed to high standards’.

A spokesman for Ms Leith declined to comment.

Prue the keyhole! Bake Off star puts Cotswolds manor house on the market for £10million

By ANNA MIKHAILOVA FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 

It’s the Great British Sell-Off – Prue Leith has put her Cotswolds manor house on the market for £10 million.

The celebrity chef has lived at Chastleton Glebe, Gloucestershire, since 1972, and she previously wanted to keep the honey-coloured Georgian building in the family.

But the property – complete with its own lake, panoramic views of the countryside and a kitchen which regularly features on the Bake Off judge’s Instagram feed – is now up for sale.

It is no ordinary listing. 

Prue Leith (pictured)  has put her Cotswolds manor house Chastleton Glebe in Gloucestershir, on the market for £10 million.

Prue Leith (pictured)  has put her Cotswolds manor house Chastleton Glebe in Gloucestershir, on the market for £10 million.

The property near Moreton-in-Marsh is being sold by boutique agency FG Consultants, which has been discreetly sending the details to top-end estate agents. 

One buyer has already expressed an interest, a source said last night.

The property is also said to include extensive farmland, while Land Registry records show there is also a lodge and two large cottages within the seven-acre grounds.

Ms Leith, 80, is planning to move to a property she has been building nearby, The Mail on Sunday understands. 

The property near Moreton-in-Marsh is being sold by boutique agency FG Consultants

The property near Moreton-in-Marsh is being sold by boutique agency FG Consultants

Her second husband, John Playfair, whom she married in 2016, also has a house close by. 

Last year, Ms Leith said: ‘We live together in my house, sleep together in my house each night, but the thing is, he still has his house where all his stuff is.’

Explaining why they kept separate homes, she said: ‘We are both too old and have too much stuff. 

‘Imagine me having to move half my clobber out of the house for his – he is the most untidy man I have ever met, I am neat and organised. It would be awful!’

The property is also said to include extensive farmland, while Land Registry records show there is also a lodge and two large cottages within the seven-acre grounds

The property is also said to include extensive farmland, while Land Registry records show there is also a lodge and two large cottages within the seven-acre grounds

One buyer has already expressed an interest, a source said last night. Pictured: Ms Leith hand-painted apples on the ceiling of her bathroom

One buyer has already expressed an interest, a source said last night. Pictured: Ms Leith hand-painted apples on the ceiling of her bathroom 

Ms Leith bought Chastleton Glebe with her former husband, author Rayne Kruger, for a reported £80,000. The couple were married until Mr Kruger’s death in 2002. Their son Danny Kruger is a Conservative MP.

The chef has previously said she intended to keep the home in the family, and planned to move to a smaller property in the grounds. 

Earlier this year she said: ‘The children can have this [house], if they want it. And if they don’t, we will sell it. We have to do it while we are energetic enough.’

A spokesman for Ms Leith declined to comment on the sale.