In the past few minutes, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has passed its second reading by 383 votes to 67, with at least six Conservative ministers voting against the legislation. It was a free vote, but it is still a striking thing to see a cabinet minister – in this case Kemi Badenoch – going against the line set by the Prime Minister. Katy covers Badenoch’s announcement that she wasn’t joining her boss in the ‘aye’ lobby here, saying it will still disappoint No 10, and send a reminder to the party and membership where the Business Secretary stands on liberty.

We have a full list of the MPs who voted against the bill here: Badenoch was joined by five other ministers – Steve Baker, Alex Burghart, Andrew Griffith, Julia Lopez and Lee Rowley – and in total 59 Conservatives voted against. Among their number was of course Liz Truss, whose opposition to this ban is well known. She told the chamber that ‘I am not speaking in this debate because I love smoking, although I have voted against every single smoking prohibition since I have been a Member of parliament’. Instead, she was opposing it because it was ‘emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom’. That just so happens to be the thesis of her book, out today.

Others, including Jake Berry, questioned whether ‘any government have a mandate on removing personal liberty’, adding ‘the Prime Minister does not have a mandate to bring forward this legislation, and no Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs – in fact, no MPs in the House – have a mandate to vote for it, because it was not in our manifestos.’ But Labour and the Lib Dems did support the legislation, and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting clearly enjoyed emphasising Labour’s position because it made Conservative MPs all the more uncomfortable with the policy from their own party. Sunak will take the win, to coin a phrase, from this, though for many Tory MPs the policy is not just emblematic of a technocratic establishment but more pressingly of the Prime Minister’s confused vision for the country. There are still plenty of stages for the Bill which will present ministers and opponents of the Prime Minister alike with opportunities to underline this point repeatedly.