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Did Boris Johnson Tell Porkies About U.K. Trade in Pies?

Did Boris Johnson Tell Porkies About U.K. Trade in Pies?

(Bloomberg) --

You can thank Boris Johnson for turning Melton Mowbray pork pies into a thing.

On his way to the Group of Seven in Biarritz, France he gave a laundry list of British products that needed better access to U.S. markets; from shower trays to bell peppers.

Johnson lamented that Melton Mowbray pork pies are sold in Thailand and in Iceland," but "are currently unable to enter the U.S. market because of, I don’t know, some sort of food and drug administration restriction.”

The message was one of a British leader standing up for the nation’s products. The only problem is, there was a suggestion it might not be entirely true.

"We don’t actually export to Thailand or to Iceland," the chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association, Matthew O’Callaghan, told BBC radio on Monday.

The revelation was seized upon by the delighted U.K. press, not least because "to tell porky pies" is Cockney rhyming slang for "lies."

But briefing reporters in Biarritz, senior U.K. officials said there was documentary proof that a British company called Walker & Sons has sold Melton Mowbray Pork Pies into both the Thai and Icelandic markets.

One of the officials noted that by speaking about the pies on a global stage, Johnson has raised the profile of a great British product.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson

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