…as Margaret Thatcher famously said as she was deposed by her own party.

Another Prime Minister today proved the point, by voting against a manifesto pledge his own party made at last year’s general election.

The issue? Whether England should follow the rest of the UK and introduce a total ban on smoking in pubs. Labour’s manifesto promised a partial ban, leaving smokers free to light up in pubs that don’t serve food. Tony Blair today voted for a total ban and his view carried the day. M’learned friends will be drowning their sorrows tonight, having lost the chance of all those fees from test cases about whether a packet of pork scratchings count as food.