
LONDON (AP) β Relations between the British government and ice cream maker Ben & Jerryβs chilled Wednesday in a spat over the treatment of migrants.
The feud began Tuesday when the Vermont-based dessert brand directed a tweet at Britainβs interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has vowed to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from France to England in small boats. Hundreds of people have made the dangerous crossing in the past weeks of calm summer weather.
The company tweeted: βHey @PritiPatel we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture.β It followed up with a series of tweets suggesting the government speak to refugee organizations and saying that βPEOPLE CANNOT BE ILLEGAL,β in response to some politiciansβ talk of βillegalβ immigrants.
The Home Office hit back, saying Patel was βworking day and night to bring an end to these small boat crossingsβ and was unconcerned about βupsetting the social media team for a brand of overpriced junk food.β
James Cleverly, a lawmaker from the governing Conservative Party, joined the criticism, tweeting: βCan I have a large scoop of statistically inaccurate virtue signalling with my grossly overpriced ice cream please.β
Founded in Burlington, Vermont in 1978 by ex-hippies Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerryβs has long championed liberal causes. It has been owned since 2000 by Anglo-Dutch consumer goods conglomerate Unilever PLC.