G7 Speakers’ Summit: Lancashire hotpot and butter pie on the menu in Chorley

Politicians from around the world will get a taste of Lancashire when they attend the event
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Lancashire hotpot and butter pie will be among the dishes on the menu at the G7 Speakers’ Summit in Chorley later this week.

Parliamentarians from around the world are making the trip to Lancashire for the gathering which tours the globe each year.

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Chorley’s MP and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will host counterparts from around the world at the event which runs from Friday to Sunday.

All of the food served will have a distinctly Lancashire flavour, designed to give the delegates - including US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi - something to remember the county by.

After a day of deliberations at Astley Hall on Saturday, the Speakers and Presiding Officers will then be treated to an evening meal prepared by Bolton-born chef Paul Heathcote who will serve up dishes including Morecambe Bay shrimps, sirloin of beef and, for dessert, Chorley cakes.

A meal with some history on the side

Sir Lindsay says that the meal will also come with a local history lesson on the side.

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“We’re going to tell them a great story [about how] the loin of beef was knighted at Hoghton Tower by James I and it became ‘Sir Loin’, We have actually got, in Astley Hall, the chair that King James sat in to knight the loin,” the veteran politician explains.

“This is all going to showcase just how much quality food we have - and [our] great farming industry and fishing areas. People think, ‘Oh, they only eat the pies [in Lancashire]’, but there’s more to life - as much as I love a butter pie,” he laughs.

As the man charged with cooking up the very best in Lancashire cuisine for the G7 Speakers, Paul Heathcote says that he wanted to offer the VIPs plenty of dishes that they were unlikely to have dined on during their globe-trotting travels.

“They’re coming from far and wide - and so trying to give them something that they hadn’t had at a banquet before was important.

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“I’m guessing that they have never had Morecambe Bay shrimps on crumpets - and I’m sure they have not had a bread and butter pudding like [the one they will be served with].”

What’s on the menu?

The dishes tempting the tastebuds of some of the most important politicians in the world when they visit Lancashire include:

  • Morecambe Bay potted shrimps
  • Goosnargh duck, potato crisp and fig relish
  • Black pudding with creamy Lancashire cheese bon bon
  • Dry cured bacon and pork sausage rolls, with beetroot and rhubarb
  • Traditional Lancashire hotpot, with Bowland lamb
  • Lancashire butter pie
  • Chorley cakes

Attendees will also be able to sample a range of cheeses including Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire - Lancashire’s last remaining producer that uses only raw cow’s milk.

What is the summit about and who’s going?

The UK is the current holder of the G7 presidency and staged the main annual summit of the organisation’s presidents and prime ministers in Cornwall earlier this month - which is why it is also now hosting the associated Speakers’ Summit.

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The theme of the event is ‘Secure Versus Open Parliaments’ - and how to balance making political representatives and their seats of power accessible, but also safe.

Former British prime minister Theresa May will address one of the sessions via video link. Mrs May was running the country on the day in 2017 when the House of Commons came under terrorist attack, resulting in the death of PC Keith Palmer just moments after four members of the public were also murdered on Westminster Bridge.

The attendees at the conference - who also include Richard Ferrand, the President of the French National Assembly and David Sassoli, President of the EU Parliament - will discuss the role of social media as a force for both good and ill in democratic debate.

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