It was Michael Heseltine who said he would intervene “morning, noon and night” to prop up British industries, but now the mantle of top Tory interventionist must be passed to a member of David Cameron’s Coalition Cabinet.

The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, is preparing to intervene at every turn to make us bounce with health like the budgie in the Trill TV ad of old.

Like the Victorian do-gooders currently being portrayed on TV by Ian Hislop, Mr Lansley is determined to stop us doing things that are bad for our health, and he’ll announce some of his proposals in Parliament this week.

If he gets his way, fast food outlets, restaurants, even your works canteen, will have to start showing the calorie count on the snacks and meals you are tempted to purchase.

That bacon sandwich you are fond of, the cheeseburger that takes your fancy, your favourite curry down at the Indian restaurant down the road, and the five-course gourmet meal will all come with their own subliminal health warnings.

Whether you like it or not, Big Brother Andrew doesn’t want you getting fat, so he wants you to watch your calorie count, both in the home and outside.

He’s worried about the “obesogenic environment” (surely he’s made that word up) in food outlets, which doesn’t allow customers to make healthy eating choices.

Mr Lansley told MPs last week: “If a third of meals are being taken out of the home and there is no clear labelling on them, it is a major gap in people’s ability to understand the quantity of food they are eating, and try themselves to manage their diet.”

But the Health Secretary’s crusade isn’t going to stop at the door of your local burger bar, no sir. He also has smokers and drinkers firmly in his sights.

Mr Lansley wants the UK to follow the Down Under practice of taking the colour and designs off cigarette packets. Under his plan, all packets would be white, carrying only the name of the brand and the statutory health warning.

He makes the important point that around 80,000 deaths in this country can be put down to tobacco smoking every year. It’s a staggering figure roughly equivalent to a full house at Twickenham, Britain’s second biggest sports stadium.

But would a move to make all cigarette packets look the same make any difference to the number of people who smoke? Given the health warnings on packaging, education in schools and the regular advice from cancer and heart experts, there can’t be a smoker in the country who doesn’t know the risks of their habit/addiction.

Mr Lansley thinks it has got to be worth a try.

“We have to reduce the extent to which young people start smoking, and one of the issues is display of cigarettes and brands does draw young people into smoking in the first place,” he says.

“This is a kind of behavioural philosophy (there he goes again). If young people are in a position where brands and tobacco are being pushed at them in their local supermarkets and stores, they are more likely to start smoking,” Mr Lansley said yesterday.

The ban on smoking in public places has largely eliminated the secondary health hazard of tobacco smoke, but, beyond the drink-drive law, no specific legal measures are in place to restrict the undoubted secondary health dangers from alcohol.

George Best proved, if proof were needed, that you can drink yourself to death, but you only have to turn up at a hospital casualty department in the early hours of Saturday or Sunday morning to see how alcohol (in excess) can damage other people’s health.

The result will be a ban on supermarkets and off-licence chains selling booze at less than cost price, thus ending the ‘loss leader’ promotions that are seen everywhere at this time of year.

A minimum price of 40p or 50p per unit of alcohol has been suggested by clinicians, but we have yet to see what the Government’s formula will be.

So that’s eating, smoking and drinking in Mr Lansley’s firing line, but what about breastfeeding?

Well, says Mr Lansley, there’s not enough of it. Only 46 per cent of British babies are still being breast-fed at eight weeks, putting us well down the European league table.

His answer is to make employers provide a fridge for expressed milk and to give 30 or 45-minute breaks to female staff who want to feed their babies.

Now that really is intervening morning, noon and night.

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Former West Midlands Euro-MP Neena Gill has swapped continents to take up a new job based mainly in New Delhi.

Miss Gill spent three of her 10 years as an MEP (before her failure to get re-elected last year) as president of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with India, and five years as president of the South Asia delegation.

She is now using that experience as vice-president of corporate affairs for Europe and Asia Pacific with the IT and services group, SAS.

“I look forward to applying my knowledge of European public policy and my passion for key issues such as healthcare, education and the environment,” said the ex-Labour politician.