PM’S 40lb cheese gift comes with whiff of a bomb scare

WHEN they sent their gift for Theresa May to her Italian hotel, the Grana Padano cheesemakers’ consortium probably hoped it would be taken back to Downing Street to stir happy memories of the Prime Minister’s holiday and perhaps end up on the pasta of a potential importer or two.

Instead, the 40lb, £250 wheel of hard Italian cheese was confiscated by security guards who feared it was a bomb.

The Prime Minister had been holidaying in the Lake Garda region with her husband Philip, the first leg of a three-week break, when the artisans sent their present to the £1,000-anight Villa Cortine Palace in Sirmione where she was staying. A hotel source told The Sun: “The cheese arrived by courier and understandably the security guys were a bit wary.

“They were not able to take it directly to the British Prime Minister and it was put in a side room for examination. The police were worried there might have been an explosive device inside.”

Grana Padano is similar in taste and style to Parmesan, though less well known in Britain.

Theresa May was holidaying in Italy with her husband when a cheese sent to her hotel sparked a security alert