I was sorry to hear that Lord Stoddart of Swindon had died, albeit at the grand old age of 94.
Born in the year of the General Strike, David Stoddart was Labour MP for Swindon from 1970 to 1983. After losing his seat he was awarded a life peerage and sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords until 2002 when he became an independent Labour peer after being expelled from the party.
The fallout happened after he supported a Socialist Alliance candidate in the 2001 general election in protest against a former Conservative MP (and defector) being parachuted in to stand as the Labour candidate in the safe Labour seat of St Helens South.
By that stage he was best known perhaps for his unwavering opposition to the UK's membership of what became the European Union.
From 1985 to 2007 he was chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain, but I read that his opposition to the UK’s membership of what was then the Common Market began in 1962, ten years before we actually joined.
He was also a staunch defender of adults who wanted to smoke and frequently opposed what he considered to be unfair discrimination against smokers.
A one-time patron of Forest (owing, I think, to his friendship with our late chairman Lord Harris), he remained a member of the Lords and Commons Pipe and Cigar Club long after he quit smoking.
Here are just some of his many interventions in the House of Lords during debates about smoking-related legislation:
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill, March 28, 2001
In my view, the Bill is a continuation of the prolonged witch hunt against smokers. It is a witch hunt that has penalised and demonised smokers for using a legal product – that has been emphasised time and time again during the debate – out of which the Government have made enormous, incalculable profits.
Tobacco Smoking (Public Places and Workplaces) Bill, April 23, 2004
My Lords, like the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington, I am a member of the House of Commons and House of Lords Pipe and Cigar Smokers' Club — a very congenial club, if I may say so. I say that, although I have not smoked for many years now. But although I am an ex-smoker, I have not become paranoid about smokers, as so many former smokers unfortunately have become.
Health Bill, June 19, 2006
My Lords, Cinderella would be at far more danger from stoking the fire than having a whiff of cigarette smoke.
Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations, March 16, 2015
I am a non-smoker, but I resent the demonisation of people who do smoke. It is not right in a democracy that we should treat such people as pariahs. That is what is happening to them and I believe that that should not be done in a democracy.
In short, we have lost an ally in parliament but one whose contributions were sometimes a little ... unexpected.
For example, at the Grand Committee stage of the 2009 Health Bill, which included the Labour government’s plan to ban the display of tobacco in shops, he said:
I have to tell the Committee that, when I was very young and suffered from a bit of constipation, I went to see the doctor, who said, 'What you should do is sit on the lavatory and smoke a cigarette. That would help a lot.'
No, I don’t know where that story was going either but I’m sure it was well-intentioned!
Baron Stoddart of Swindon, 1926-2020. RIP.