Simon Clark - Taking Liberties

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, 2015

So, 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, 2015

Plain 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, 2015

Over 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, 2015

Columnist 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, 2015

On 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, 2015

Quoting extensively from this blog Breitbart reported:

Tories Revolt Over Plain Packaging For Cigarettes http://t.co/lv7VPUuKBD via @BreitbartNews
— Forest (@Forest_Smoking) January 27, 2015

This 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, 2015

This 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, 2015

An 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, 2015

And 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, 2015

Finally, 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, 2015

So, your plan to introduce plain packaging quietly and without fuss is going well, Mr Cameron?