Who's this having a crafty fag outside the Houses of Parliament?
Why, it's Luciana Berger who recently replaced Dianne Abbott as Labour's shadow public health minister.
The photo was taken in June and posted on Twitter by @eyespymp.
More recently, during the Labour conference in Brighton, she was again seen lighting up:
A few months' earlier Berger denied that she still smoked. On March 14, in response to another sighting, she protested:
H/T Guido Fawkes (Luciana lights up)
The point is, who cares that she smokes? What's sad is that she feels she has to deny it.
Unfortunately her personal battle to quit may be about to influence public policy.
Yesterday, responding to a report suggesting that "the number of people using the NHS in England to stop smoking has fallen for the first time in four years (Fewer smokers' using NHS in England to try to quit, BBC News), Berger said:
“These figures confirm that this Tory-led Government have completely lost their way on public health. The fact that fewer people are successfully quitting or trying to quit smoking with NHS help for the first time in five years should set alarm bells ringing.
“David Cameron promised tough action on smoking, but he has completely caved in to big tobacco and vested interests. Standardised cigarette packaging is proven to make smoking less attractive to young people, but Ministers have gone back on their pledge to introduce it.
“With around 570 children starting smoking in the UK every day, we need action now. That’s why Labour will be bringing forward an amendment to the Children and Families Bill next month to introduce standardised packaging. Ministers should do the right thing and support that change.” (Labour News)
Like her predecessor Diane Abbott, Berger is peddling the line that the Government has gone back on a "pledge" to introduce plain packaging.
As we know, there was no "pledge". The Government said it would conduct a public consultation on the measure and it delivered.
Former public health minister Anna Soubry - another (former) smoker - made no secret of her desire for plain packaging but the Government never committed itself to the measure.
Berger, like Soubry, is playing politics and it can only be a matter of time before she too declares that she only started smoking because of the "glamorous" packaging.
Like so many politicians her motto appears to be, "Do as I say, not as I do".
PS. Last night I was on LBC discussing the "fall" in the number of smokers using the NHS to stop smoking.
After pointing out that the NHS has a poor record of success in this area, I suggested that smokers who want to quit are increasingly turning to e-cigarettes - a free market solution - in favour of state-run smoking cessation services.
Rubbishing the claim that e-cigs might become a gateway to tobacco, I pointed out that banning their use at work or elsewhere represents a ban on nicotine, a drug that may be addictive for some but is probably less harmful to our health than caffeine - and no-one is suggesting that we ban or restrict our consumption of caffeine. Not yet, anyway.
So once again I found myself acting as cheerleader for e-cigs and the vaping community. I hope they appreciate it!