Osborne defends burger image

The Chancellor has again taken to Twitter, this time to congratulated Eric Pickles after the Communities Minister posted a picture of himself finishing a speech while eating a take-away salad.

Mr Pickles' candid picture was itself a tribute to the Chancellor's photo posted the evening before the Spending Review, when he was eating a burger.

See more: Eric Pickles enjoys takeaway salad as he finishes speech

Following in the footsteps of the Chancellor, Conservative MP Eric Pickles has tweeted a picture of himself eating while putting the 'finishing touches' to a speech.

Read more: Osborne defends burger image

However while George Osborne was pictured with a burger and fries, Mr Pickles has been snapped with a healthier treat, a boxed salad.

Gallery: Why politicians should never be photographed eating

The Communities and Local Government Minister was mentioned during Mr Osborne's Spending Review yesterday as "the model of lean government" for the savings he has managed in his department.

Read more: Eric Pickles enjoys being butt of Chancellor's joke

Political blogger Guido Fawkes has dug up a photograph of Labour leader Ed Miliband at the Fine Burger Company, where a meal will set you back around £8.

The Chancellor George Osborne's decision to tweet a photo of himself tucking into a Byron burger has prompted other politicians to declare their burger establishment allegiances.

The blog also notes that Conservative MP Grant Schapps is a "man of the people" after being photographed eating at McDonald's.

Labour's Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna has suggested that his local burger joint Orient Express serves superior fare to the Byron restaurant chain favoured by the Chancellor.

Read: Osborne defends burger: 'McDonald's doesn't deliver'

After the Chancellor tweeted a picture of himself eating a burger from Byron - rumoured to cost almost £10 - the Deputy Prime Minister has admitted he too is a fan of the restaurant chain.

Asked on his weekly radio phone-in where he last ate a burger, he said: "Very near there, there is a burger place - a fancy burger place called Byron," he said. "It was actually quite a fancy burger, I have to say."

He then went on to extol the qualities of the Byron milkshakes.

"Can I strongly recommend - I'm allowed to do this, this is not commercial advertising - the Oreo milkshakes at Byron's. They are something else," he said.

"That is actually the reason we went. It wasn't for the burgers, it was my kids saying 'We want the Oreo milkshakes'."

Read: Osborne defends burger: 'McDonald's doesn't deliver'

George Osborne has defended claims that his takeaway meal was a gourmet burger, costing £9.70, he told Daybreak: "McDonald's doesn't deliver, I was working late in the office."

The Chancellor, who tweeted the image of himself working late on his spending review speech eating a burger and chips, was on the front page of The Sun this morning as the newspaper alleged his takeaway meal was from trendy diner Byron.

He said: "As a politician you've got this dilemma which is the only thing people see of you is you're in the House of Commons, in a television studio.

"The point about Twitter is to try and tell people more about what you're doing every day, and there I am working late on my speech, and I've got a takeaway hamburger, but it gets put on the front page of The Sun… occupational hazard."

The Chancellor George Osborne has posted a picture on Twitter of him eating a takeaway as he put the "final touches" to his speech tomorrow on government spending for 2015.