Love of cooking ousts Thai PM, for now

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - After seven months of turbulent rule, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's passion for hot, spicy food has forced him out of power -- if only briefly.

The combative 73-year-old politician has survived months of street protests, graft probes, a hostile media, disobedient generals and sniping from the country's revered king.

But he ran foul of the constitution by hosting TV cooking shows while in office, a top court ruled on Tuesday, ordering him to resign because he had worked for a private broadcaster.

The offending show, "Tasting, Grumbling", was a staple for lovers of Thai food, even though its host was not to everyone's taste.

With an apron wrapped around his ample girth, Samak whipped up a weekly menu of traditional curries, soups and salads, as well as his own recipes such as "Samak's Fried Rice".

There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from Samak, who earlier only smiled at reporters as he toured a meat and vegetable market in northeast Thailand hours before the Constitutional Court ruling.

His People Power Party (PPP) vowed to return him as prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Friday, outraging protesters who have occupied Samak's official Bangkok compound for two weeks in a bid to unseat him.

"If Samak is elected again, they can go to hell," Sikarin Inksakunsombun, a 64-year-old housewife, said at a rain-soaked Government House.

Since the street protests began in May, the thick-skinned Samak has vowed he will never bow to a "mob", as he calls the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

The PAD accuses him of being a puppet of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

Samak said during the 2007 election campaign there was nothing wrong with being a proxy. But he later insisted he was his own man after Thaksin fled into exile in London last month.

"He's a grumpy old man and he does what he likes," said Graham Catterwell, a retired analyst who has followed the country's fractious politics for three decades.

"His view is -- I'm the prime minister and I want to stay prime minister, and bugger off to anyone else."

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Born into an aristocratic family, Samak earned a law degree from Bangkok's prestigious Thammasat University and worked in various jobs as a clerk, tour guide and journalist.