Has Sajid Javid been captured by the Blob?

I got a call yesterday from the Daily Express.

“We’ve got an exclusive,” they said. “Boris has thrown out plans by health secretary Sajid Javid to ban smoking in pavement areas outside pubs, restaurants and cafes. Will you write 150 words opposing a ban?”

Naturally I said yes and sent them the following copy:

Banning smoking in pavement areas would be insane. There is no justification whatsoever for government to intervene on public health grounds because there is no evidence that smoking outside is a significant risk to non-smokers.

Under current regulations it is already compulsory for pubs, cafes and restaurants that provide outdoor seating on pavements to offer separate non-smoking areas. Smoking areas are merely optional and if proprietors don’t want to offer one they don’t have to, but it must be their choice based on customer demand and feedback.

Having survived, with great difficulty, many of the regulations imposed during the pandemic, the last thing the hospitality industry needs is the threat of the smoking ban being extended to outdoor areas.

Tobacco is still a legal product and if smokers can’t light up in enclosed public places they must be allowed to smoke outside without further regulations designed to force them to quit.

An hour later the Sun rang claiming to have the same 'exclusive'. The most vocal critic of the plan was Michael Gove, apparently, although he has subsequently denied it. Would Forest like to comment?

I sent a short response, an edited version of which appeared in today’s paper, but my contribution to the Express was cut in half and edited rather poorly, I thought, to the extent that words that were chosen very carefully were changed without my knowledge.

However the obvious question after reading these reports is, has our new Health Secretary, appointed in June, already fallen into the hands of the Blob, those unelected mandarins who - reports would suggest - effectively run the country regardless of who is in power.

We’ve known for years that the tobacco control programme at the Department of Health (now the DHSC) has been driven not by ministers but by long-serving civil servants but the speed with which 'the libertarian Javid' has fallen into line with the (health) Blob has surprised even me (if today's reports are true).

This doesn't bode well for liberals and libertarians when the new Tobacco Control Plan is published because it suggests he could be a soft touch for a tobacco control industry that has been lobbying furiously all year and is no doubt urging him to go further, faster, if the Government is serious about meeting its absurd target of making England 'smoke-free' (sic) by 2030.

Expect more unnecessary and illiberal regulations and maybe, in the not too distant future, even a leadership bid.

For now let's be grateful that there is still opposition within the Cabinet (and Number Ten) to further regulations that would smother the hospitality industry with more red tape and reduce freedom of choice for customers and businesses.

See also: The Blob is taking back control and destroying Boris Johnson's premiership (Telegraph)

PS. Curiously the Express report, which covers a full page in the print edition, isn't online. If it does appear I'll post a link here.

Update: Here it is - PM snubs out Sajid Javid bid to ban smoking in street.

The online report omits my head-to-head with Hazel Cheeseman of ASH which appeared under a separate headline, ‘Should having a cigarette outside be outlawed?’

According to Hazel:

Smokers need places outside. However, these places don’t need to be where we eat or socialise.

MailOnline also has the story - Boris Johnson 'blocked Sajid Javid's plan to ban smoking outside pubs and clubs' amid fears added red tape would hamper the hospitality sector's recovery from the coronavirus crisis.