Smokers lost one of their principal allies in the House of Lords last week.
Sadly, Adrian Palmer, the 4th Baron Palmer, died following a stroke. He was ‘only’ 71, but suffered from diabetes and had been in poor health for some time.
A member of the Lords and Commons Pipe and Cigar Smokers’ Club, he attended the Forest Freedom Dinner at Boisdale of Canary Wharf on several occasions. (Four, I believe.)
He also accepted an invitation to Forest’s 40th anniversary dinner in 2019, but cancelled the day before the event:
I am so disappointed that I now cannot make tomorrow’s event at Boisdale. I was so looking forward to it. Please accept my most sincere apologies.
If this implies I knew him well, I didn’t.
Someone who did was Giles Roca, a former director of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association, who last week tweeted:
Sad news. I got to know Adrian well incl the pleasure of a tour & lunch at Manderston (roast pheasant cooked by himself). He was a true character with a mischievous sense of humour, but was passionate about safeguarding the Union and in preserving the traditions of the Lords. RIP
Manderston is the 109-room Edwardian stately home near Duns in the Scottish Borders. Apparently it’s the only house in the world with a silver-plated staircase but when it was built at the start of the 20th century it was notably modern with bathrooms, electric lighting, and central heating.
Of the man himself, the obituaries paint a colourful picture. The Telegraph, for example, notes that:
He was educated at Eton, but claimed to have been asked to leave because he was “so incredibly stupid”.
According to the Scotsman:
The peer once recalled eating a 20-year-old biscuit that was "perfectly edible" as he argued product sell-by dates "are far too cautious", and noted "everybody's amazement" when he was breathalysed one day at 10.30am and passed.
The Times, meanwhile, reports that:
He was a gentle, kind man, who made friends from all walks of life. He was particularly fond of the staff on the East Coast Mainline and invited several of them to stay at Manderston. And after befriending an Antiguan-born black cab driver in London — who used to pick him up and drop him off at King’s Cross — Palmer invited the cabbie and his family to use Manderston for holidays.
On the subject of smoking, he supported the cause even if he sometimes had a funny way of expressing it.
In December 2004, opposing further restrictions on smoking in the Palace of Westminster, he began his speech by saying:
My Lords, I feel that I must start by stating that I think smoking is the most revolting, unhealthy and disgusting habit, but I do have to admit to being a smoker.
Continuing, he pointed out that:
It is important not to forget that smoking is still a legal pastime, one practised by 26 per cent of the adult population of the United Kingdom … It should also not be forgotten that annually the Exchequer receives not less than £10 billion from smokers. There are some 6,000 full-time jobs in the tobacco industry; 23,000 people are involved in supplying the industry; and nearly 58,000 in retailing and distribution.
On arriving here nearly 15 years ago, I remember being told that the House of Lords was the last bastion of civilisation. Since then, places where one can smoke have been dramatically reduced and I am in favour of some of the restrictions that have already been imposed. But I feel that both of the amendments tabled by my noble friends are intolerant and unnecessary and, indeed, would diminish the reputation of your Lordships' House as the last bastion of civilisation.
One of the worst sights in Britain today is that of office entranceways crammed with smokers. Do we really want our staff and, indeed, some Members of your Lordships' House, to be forced into that syndrome? I would venture to suggest that we do not.
On March 1, 2006, two weeks after MPs had voted to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, with the Labour Government reneging on its commitment to exempt private members’ clubs and pubs that don’t serve food, he declared:
My views are well known and are certainly well documented in Hansard, from when we last discussed smoking. I echo the views of my noble friend Lord Monson, and the noble Lords, Lord Geddes and Lord Naseby. Particularly bearing in mind what the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, said, I find it difficult to believe that a party in power can go so directly against its manifesto commitment.
If you own a restaurant, you have to staff it and pay all the financing. Therefore, if you want someone to work in that restaurant you can, after all, explain, “I am sorry, this is a restaurant where smoking is allowed. If you want to work here, you will have to accept that.” There are, of course, plenty of other places where that person could work.
In theory, I applaud the Government for wishing to limit the amount that people smoke. For years and years I have thought that the only way to stop people smoking is to have a blanket ban on the sale of all tobacco products. I know that we would have a bit of a problem because, at the moment, 27 per cent of tobacco products sold in this country are smuggled in. However, I believe that if the Government really want to stop people smoking, the only alternative is to ban the sale of all tobacco products, and I intend to produce an amendment to that effect in Committee.
He was not, I believe, being serious and was just making a point, highlighting the absurdity of the smoking ban and the war on tobacco, but that’s the trouble with mavericks and eccentrics. They can be a law unto themselves, and Lord Palmer was both.
Nevertheless, his premature death means we have lost one of the few remaining peers who was prepared to stand up to the small cabal of anti-smoking peers that dominates every debate about smoking in the House of Lords.
Late last year, for example, he asked, pointedly (and mischievously):
My Lords, have His Majesty’s Government estimated the loss to the Treasury if England became smoke-free?
The 4th Lord Palmer will be missed and Parliament is a poorer place without him.
See: Lord Palmer, aristocrat of vivid personality who lived at the Borders stately home Manderston – obituary (Telegraph)
Above: Lord Palmer at the 2017 Forest Freedom Dinner