Tomorrow, parliament will debate a topic of immense significance. Steerpike hears that Tory peer Lord McColl is planning on championing a great repressed minority, in a land that claims to be free. Not so much a political hot potato, rather a hot sheep stomach stuffed with the animal’s heart, liver and lungs.
Since 1971 haggis has been banned in the States, denying the 24 million Americans who claim to be of Scottish descent (with varying degrees of credibility), from celebrating Burns Night properly.
Behind the scenes there has been a long lobbying campaign to have the ban overturned, aimed at Defra and the US Embassy, and spearheaded by Ranald Macdonald, owner of Boisdale, whose four restaurants alone serve 4.5 tonnes of the offal stuff every year.
Former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson sat down with his US counterpart last July to discuss the issue, and despite Paterson’s successor Liz Truss giving an animated conference speech last year extolling the virtues of British exports, particularly those of symbolic importance, there does not appear to be much movement on haggis.
When Mr S put this suggestion to Defra, a source close to Liz Truss told him:
‘The Secretary of State is passionate about British food. As she recently said, taking up the French foreign minister’s challenge, we can take on all comers, whether it’s with our Melton Mowbray pork pies, Yorkshire Tea or the Mary Jane brew from the Ilkley Brewery. Focusing on opening up new export markets is vitally important and the government is continuing to work with the American authorities to help remove the ban so that our wonderful Haggis, made to the traditional recipe, can be exported.’
Friends of Baron McColl of Dulwich tell Steerpike that his Lordship will be demanding answers tomorrow over what exactly our government is doing to ‘press the US government to change their position on the ban on haggis’. Apparently, McColl believes that ‘ending the ban on haggis exports and increasing porridge exports to the United States will assist in solving the nation’s obesity problems’. Which is sure to endear him to Americans.
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