Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch has announced she will be voting against Rishi Sunak’s phased smoking ban in a bodyblow to the prime minister’s authority.
In a sign of an impeding Tory rebellion over the issue, the cabinet minister said she could not support the Tobacco and Vapes Bill because she believes in the “principle of equality under the law”.
The PM’s plan will make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone currently 15 or younger. The legal age for buying tobacco – currently 18 – would increase every year by one year so that people born in or after 2009 will never legally be able to buy cigarettes.
Tory MPs have been granted a free........