Former MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has weighed in on Boris Johnson’s assertion that the UK’s obesity crisis is the Church of England’s fault.

Speaking on his GB News programme, the Catholic conservative said that Britain “has more than its fair share of fatties”, but stopped short of agreeing with Johnson that obesity is a direct result of the Church.

Johnson claimed that people were “gorging themselves” on the “living bread of Tesco”, due to the Church of England focussing on anti-colonialism.  

“Boris is essentially paraphrasing Matthew 4:4,” said Rees-Mogg: “Are we being a bit mean as Catholics, and Boris is another fellow Catholic, in blaming the Church of England?”

His guest, Gavin Ashenden said Johnson had engaged in “an imaginative exercise in lateral thinking.”

“Although they’re linked, one hasn’t directly caused the other.”

Rees-Mogg agreed: “Boris used his language to highlight a problem. There is a spiritual desert in this country. I found that when knocking on doors.

“The church, and it's not just the Anglican Church, it may be our [Catholic] church too, and the methodists, aren't filling that void enough. They’re not talking about the love of Christ, or the blessed Virgin.”