Fag Burns

It sounds like an episode of The Thick of It: the government is ploughing ahead with its naff “Stoptober” initiative. Next month the country’s eight million smokers will be encouraged by TV adverts and glossy leaflets to work together to kick the habit.

Tory Minister Simon Burns’s move from the Department of Health to Transport couldn’t have come at a better time: the chain smoker managed to get out just before he was forced to take part in the campaign. Bad news though for Liberal Health Minister Norman Lamb, who was promoted to Health to replace Burns. He told the BBC today that he ‘quit smoking last week’. Of course he did.