Oh dear. Having his leadership questioned is becoming an almost-daily occurrence for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. When he announced he was going to introduce a smoking ban at the Conservative party conference in October, there were people in his own party rather aghast at the proposal, with more recent talk of a rebellion on the issue. And now Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson has sided with the PM’s rivals…
Sunak wants to phase out smoking by raising the legal age for the purchase of tobacco by one year, every year, from 2027 onwards. But the health-focused PM is facing a backlash from his own politicians. One group of parliamentarians is urging the Department for Health to save their cigars — prompting concerns from smoking groups that this would create a two-tier approach to tobacco that would unfairly target the working class.
During a talk at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa, Johnson didn’t quite manage to sing the praises of the man who cut short his time in Downing Street. The former PM told his audience that he hoped the Tories were able to ‘turn things around in the next few months’ — but was quick to criticise the ‘absolutely nuts’ proposals being put forward ‘in the name of conservatism’.
Always the charmer, Johnson showed off to the French speakers in the room, adding: ‘The party of Winston Churchill wants to ban [cigars]… “Donnez-moi un break,” as they say in Quebec — it’s just mad.’ Quite.
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