Boris Johnson has launched a furious attack on Rishi Sunak’s “absolutely nuts” policies as prime minister.
The former PM took aim at Sunak’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations and also suggested the government is not spending enough on defence.
Johnson’s comments, at a conference in Canada, are the latest salvo in his ongoing feud with the man he believes plotted to bring him down as prime minister.
Sunak announced at last autumn’s Tory Party conference in Birmingham that anyone currently aged 14 or under would never be able to buy tobacco products in their life.
The measure has sparked a backlash within his own party, with dozens of Conservative MPs expected to vote against the plan when it comes to parliament next week.
Johnson said some of Sunak’s policies that are “being done in the name of conservatism” are “absolutely, absolutely nuts”.
He said: “I see my beloved party... we’re banning cigars. And what is the point? The party of Winston Churchill wants a ban. I mean, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.”
On defence spending, Johnson said: “Now is the moment for an even more robust posture.
“We all need to recognise the world is more uncertain, more dangerous, we all need frankly to be spending more on defence — that goes for the UK as well as everybody else.”
Johnson’s remarks come just two weeks after Sunak bemoaned the “hospital pass” he had been handed by his predecessors when he became PM in 2022.