Obesity our greatest health challenge

He said obesity was the biggest health challenge facing the country.

In a speech to the Fabian Society, Johnson said: Just as the government has a moral duty to tackle poverty and exclusion, so it also has a duty to address obesity. But this is not a licence to hector and lecture people on how they should spend their lives – not least because this simply won’t work.

Tackling obesity requires a much broader partnership, not only with families, but with employers, retailers, the leisure industry, the media, local government and the voluntary sector.

He added: Vilifying the extremely fat doesn’t make people change their behaviour. Instead the message needs to be presented intelligently and explain to parents that many children, regardless of their size, have dangerous levels of fat in their arteries or around their organs, and this may reduce their life expectancy by up to 11 years – then people respond.