Jamie Oliver: Andrew Lansley apologised for School Dinners jibe

Jamie Oliver has said the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has apologised to him after he rubbished the TV chef's campaign to get schoolchildren to eat healthier food. Oliver won plaudits for his healthy eating campaign which began with his 2005 Channel 4 series, Jamie's School Dinners, and was credited with persuading the then Labour government to spend an extra £280m on school catering . Lansley, speaking to doctors earlier this year , used the introduction of nutritious lunches after Oliver's schools campaign in a plea for less "lecturing" on lifestyle and more personal responsibility to tackle public health problems such as obesity and smoking. "If we are constantly lecturing people and trying to tell them what to do, we will actually find that we undermine and are counterproductive in the results that we achieve," Lansley said . "Jamie Oliver, quite rightly, was talking about trying to improve the diet of children, but the net effect was the number of children eating school meals in many of these places didn't go up, it went down." His comments sparked a furious response from Oliver , but the TV chef said the pair have settled their differences, adding that he is keen to work with the health secretary in the future. "Well, he's written to me and apologised and said it was misconstrued," Oliver told John Humphrys in an interview in the new issue of Radio Times, published today. "I don't want to fight with him, I just want to work with him." Oliver said he "can't think of a better way of describing me than being a professional shit-stirrer ... what I've found is that in all the territories where I work no one really wants to be honest or upset anyone", but has no plans to enter politics himself. "God, no! I've only been political since [Channel 4's 2005 series] School Dinners," he added. "I found it very hard to engage ... I'd be very disempowered in politics because they have only a short plan ... to be in until the next election. They might have to make choices that get them in power but actually are a waste of bloody money," Oliver said. Despite his success, Oliver told Humphrys that he had "less in my bank account now than I had 12 years ago". "In theory, I'm skint," he told the Today presenter, with all his money invested in his businesses, adding that he had "never had a nest egg or a pool of cash that wasn't being invested in people or offices or paying for my restaurant". • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".