Tory MP: Fat Commuters Should Slim Down if They Want to Use Train Seats

Fat commuters should lose weight if they want more space on the train, an MP has said.

Anne Milton, a former public health minister, tweeted yesterday that a “very large bottomed man” was making her feel “squashed” as he sat next to her on the train to London.

She told the London Evening Standard: “If you are going to sit on one of those seats for three people, you need to take up one third of the seat. If your bottom is bigger than a third then you need to reduce its size.”

The Conservative MP for Guildford tweeted:

Seats free on 7.34 but in the middle seat of 3 – small bottomed man to my left but a very large bottomed man to my right…..

— Anne Milton MP (@AnneMiltonMP) December 4, 2014

….who is asleep with his arms crossed on his ample stomach which makes that squashed feeling seem so much worse somehow.

— Anne Milton MP (@AnneMiltonMP) December 4, 2014

The man, his bottom and stomach have all now woken up and are slowly coming to life – whilst my bottom is now free!

— Anne Milton MP (@AnneMiltonMP) December 4, 2014

Ms Milton, who was public health minister from 2010 to 2012, trained as a trained as a nurse and is married to a doctor.

During her time as a minister, she suggested that doctors should tell people they were fat rather than “obese” in order to spur them into losing weight.