PM struggling to shut down plain packaging story
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 19:13 Six days ago, shortly after health minister Jane Ellison announced the Government was going ahead with plain packaging, journalist Iain Martin tweeted:
The sensible parts of the Tory high command has about 10 hours to squash the plain-packaging story.
— Iain Martin (@iainmartin1) January 21, 2015So, how's that going?
Well, Thursday saw an avalanche of opposition – from Forest, the IEA, the Institute of Ideas and others.
Friday revealed ruffled feathers among leading Conservatives such as LBC presenter Iain Dale and Nigel Evans MP:
How can any politician support #plainpackaging and say with a straight face they are Conservative, asks @IainDale http://t.co/HZYZmVGTWI
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 23, 2015Plain packaging for cigarettes is plain bonkers and deeply un-Conservative, writes Nigel Evans MP http://t.co/gYnomLYxOi via @BreitbartNews
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 24, 2015Over the weekend the Sun on Sunday exposed more opposition among Tory MPs:
Tories split on plain packaging http://t.co/EnDnNkePQ7 H/T @GuidoFawkes
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 25, 2015Columnist Tony Parsons also weighed in:
Columnist Tony Parsons has a thing or two to say on the hot topic of plain pack cigarettes. http://t.co/HpkcXMsbEy pic.twitter.com/oZGGZ3nZU9
— The Sun (@TheSunNewspaper) January 25, 2015On Monday former Sunday Telegraph editor Dominic Lawson led the opposition with an excellent article in the Daily Mail:
Persecuting smokers will cost us all more in the end, writes Dominic Lawson http://t.co/AyDH5g8xyr via @MailOnline
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 26, 2015Quoting extensively from this blog Breitbart reported:
Tories Revolt Over Plain Packaging For Cigarettes http://t.co/lv7VPUuKBD via @BreitbartNews
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 27, 2015This morning the PM woke up to find Guido Fawkes tweeting:
Osborne, May & Hammond Confront Hunt Over Pack Back Track http://t.co/nuNIGgxLJi pic.twitter.com/oIeOOwQA0V
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) January 27, 2015This afternoon, despite a feeble attempt to play down Guido's story, the bad news kept on coming for the PM.
First there was this tweet by the Spectator:
80 Tories could reject plain packaging - @IsabelHardman http://t.co/PZieHrXc3m pic.twitter.com/3Yhp0SFgfS
— Coffee House (@Spectator_CH) January 27, 2015An hour later the Telegraph's Christopher Hope tweeted:
Up to 100 Tory MPs to vote against Govt plans to force tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packaging. By me http://t.co/gejMyJcJXC
— Christopher Hope (@christopherhope) January 27, 2015And shortly after that Telegraph Politics tweeted:
Nick de Bois: Introducing plain cigarette packaging could go 'badly, badly wrong' http://t.co/8d1fatCPJe
— Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics) January 27, 2015Finally, I did I mention this letter from Forest supporter David Hockney in today's FT?
David Hockney fumes on ciggies and colours in a letter to the editor @FT pic.twitter.com/xQjig0nbxK
— Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) January 27, 2015So, your plan to introduce plain packaging quietly and without fuss is going well, Mr Cameron?
Reader Comments (11)
hahahahahahaahahahahahaahahahah .... breathe hahahahahaahahahahahahahaha ....
Surely Ellison should be expelled from Parliament for her actions. After failing to keep them informed about the EU negotiations she continues to act her friends in the DoH and Tobacco Control and makes an announcement on plain packaging before Cabinet is fully appraised - Who runs this Country ?- Obviously, it's Tobacco Control. No published consultation, no discussion, no respect for her Country and certainly not for its (excuse for a) democracy.
Up your bum Cameron...ouch!
Cameron...this oh so politically correct wuss has had his own ludicrous self righteousness shoved nice and hard in a place where the sun doesn't shine!
Poor Arnott and her spiteful ilk in the anti-tobacco community must be jumping up and down like cats on a hot-tin roof!
Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?
Let's hope the folly of this anti-democratic push for plain packaging doesn't just get swept under the rug after a few bad news cycles. Beyond that let's hope (and exploit) this as a means for moving toward amending the ill conceived smoking ban.
10 Million Smokers = 10 Million Voters. Your future lies in the hands of smokers.
There are things I like about the concept of 'plain packaging'. I believe that the principle should be extended into the political agenda. I would like to see all political logos done away with, and replaced with a single political icon (the UN symbol, or that of the WHO might suffice). All of our politicians should then dress identically (as they did in past times, when a black suit and bowler hat was the norm), or they could have a more formal uniform, perhaps a drab olive-green would do, with boots and a peaked cap, then they would all look alike and be clearly identified as our 'masters' (since they long ago gave up the pretence of being our servants!). It worked well before, didn't it? Well, for a few years, at least ....
I note that with all this furore over plain packaging, very little mention has been made of the even-more-quietly-slipped-in-proposal to ban smoking in private cars (unspecified, at this point, as to whether with or without children present). Even newspaper articles and blogs like these, which have covered it haven't given it much more than an additional line or two. To my mind this is as much, if nor more, of a worrying proposal, because it is definitely a step over the borderline from "public" to "private" spaces. Even the protesting MP's don't seem to have even raised an eyebrow about it, which is very concerning. Have any of them mentioned it, does anyone know, or is their concern about the whole lot - PP and cars all together?? I really, really hope it's the latter, and not a case of looking after their big-business friends but not batting an eyelid at yet more bullying of individual smokers ...
I really liked Geoff Cliff's idea about politicians but I think their identical olive drab suits -- both front and back-- should have large disgustingly graphic labels. Maybe a picture of a sick ( or better, dying) democracy and slogans like Warning: Our actions will raise your blood pressure, make you feel impotent, poison your relationships, and may, in some cases, lead you to violence.
Jane Ellison is silly. The anti-smoker industry doesn't care how many carers they ruin as long as they get what they want by force in the most undemocratic way possible.
Who ever thought that a car ban would only affect those with children. Certainly not me. How else can they enforce it unless it applies to all.
Outdoor ban next, then home ban, then criminalisation of the law abiding consumer. How much further is this Govt and fascist quangos going to take this? I think we all know the answer.
See you in jail folks.
Yes, I'm surprised that Government spokes-people repeatedly used the phrase, "smoking in cars with children present". I was expecting them to "absent mindedly" begin to forget the "with children" bit.
And now a proposed ban on smoking in cars: to-protect-the-children (at first).
I think it high time that FOREST adopted a Patron Saint.
St Jude comes to mind as the obvious candidate...................
Bye, bye, England: it was nice knowing you - and only an Electoral Miracle can save (never mind restore) what precious little remains of the country I grew up in.