William Sitwell given Telegraph critic job months after ‘killing vegans’ joke

Former Waitrose Food magazine editor William Sitwell, who stepped down after controversially joking about “killing vegans”, has been hired as a restaurant critic for the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Sitwell, who also appears on the BBC programme Masterchef, came under fire after freelance journalist Selene Nelson emailed him in October suggesting the supermarket’s magazine write a regular series on vegan cooking.

In response to her pitch he wrote: “Hi Selene. Thanks for this. How about a series on killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?”

After the comments received widespread attention online, Mr Sitwell issued an apology, describing the comments as an “ill-judged joke”. He later resigned from his post.

After he announced his new role at the national newspaper, one Twitter user asked Mr Sitwell if his “first meal is a plant based one”.

“It was – review out this Saturday,” he replied.

Telegraph deputy editor Jane Bruton told the outlet’s website: “I’m delighted to welcome William to The Telegraph and his new weekly column will be an insightful addition to Saturday’s magazine.

“With a wealth of experience as a food critic, author and broadcaster, he will bring a unique voice to our existing roster of talented journalists and critics.”

The announcement of Mr Sitwell’s new position comes as Piers Morgan waded in to a discussion about high-street baker Greggs’ new vegan sausage roll.

After Greggs announced the new product on Wednesday, Morgan responded: “Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns.”

The feud continued into Thursday with Morgan’s name trending on Twitter as he posted a series of tweets with regards to veganism.