Ten years ago this week

On August 5, 2014, we delivered 53,196 letters to Downing Street.

They were addressed to the prime minister, David Cameron, and were signed by adults opposed to plain packaging of tobacco.

Two days later (August 7) we also delivered - to the Department of Health - a petition with the names of over 100,000 people opposed to plain packs.

In total, therefore, over 150,000 people were signatories to the final stage of our campaign against standardised packaging that had peaked twelve months earlier when we submitted to the DoH the names of over 250,000 people opposed to the measure.

Those signatories had been gathered over four months and were part of a wider campaign that attracted a total of 450,000 signatories opposed to plain packs.

The strength of opposition - two-thirds of petition responses to the original government consultation were against standardised packs - forced the Cameron government to kick the policy into the long grass, for a while at least.

Inevitably, however, the threat returned - hence the letters and second petition for which we had just six weeks to gather signatures.

For the full story of how we delivered those letters to Downing Street, click here. Here’s a short snippet:

Understandably Downing Street didn't want them all delivered through the front door. Instead we were allowed to deliver 2,500 in a single box with the balance sent to another address nearby.

Permission to hand deliver had to be sought a couple of weeks in advance. No more than six petitioners are permitted entry to Downing Street, and placards, banners, loud hailers, fancy dress and any props are all prohibited.

The six petitioners had to be security checked so personal information was required a week in advance. On the day passports or driving licences were needed to confirm our identities.

Outside Number Ten (in the photo above) are me, Angela Harbutt, Martin Cullip and two Hands off Our Packs campaigners, Claire and Jess.

Here too is part of the press release we issued ten years ago today:

A petition against plain packaging of tobacco has attracted more than 100,000 signatures and more than 50,000 people have personally written to the Prime Minister opposing the initiative.

Standardised packaging of tobacco is the subject of a final six-week consultation that closes on Thursday 7th August.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest which runs the Hands Off Our Packs campaign, said:

"The response demonstrates the enormous level of opposition to this ill-conceived measure. We urge the prime minister to think again.

“There’s no evidence standardised packaging will have any health benefits. Advocates base their arguments not on facts but on speculation.

“There must be no rush to legislation. It’s a huge step and no government should take it lightly ...

We finally lost our three-year battle against plain packaging when David Cameron forced legislation through Parliament the following year, before the 2015 General Election.

Nevertheless, we didn’t go down without a fight (the Hands Off Our Packs campaign was originally launched in February 2012), and I look back on our efforts with enormous pride.

If nothing else, it showed what can be achieved when everyone works together. (Hint, hint.)

See: Special delivery - PM receives 53,196 letters opposing plain packaging and Over 150,000 petition Government against plain packaging.

Also: Forest underestimated success of Hands Off Our Packs campaign