Boris Johnson channels cigar-loving Winston Churchill as he hits out at Rishi ... trends now

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Boris Johnson last night channeled cigar-loving Winston Churchill as he hit out at Rishi Sunak's 'absolutely nuts' smoking ban.

The former prime minister attacked the flagship policy of his successor-but-one as he questioned 'some of the things that we are doing... in the name of conservatism'.

Mr Johnson wondered why 'the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars' in his criticism of Mr Sunak's plans to phase out the legal sale of tobacco.

The ex-premier also used an appearance in Canadian capital Ottawa to join Tory calls for Mr Sunak to boost the UK's defence spending in today's 'more dangerous' world.

The PM is under increasing pressure to push Britain's military budget to 2.5 per cent or even 3 per cent of GDP.

'Now is the moment for an even more robust posture,' Mr Johnson told the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference.

'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.'