Tobacco control lobby loses a close ally

The defenestration of Andrew Gwynne has arguably lost the tobacco control industry one of its most vocal supporters.

Here, for example, is the former health minister tweeting in July 2024:

A few months later (October 14, 2024) he spoke at the inaugural meeting of the new APPG on Smoking and Health (run by ASH), an occasion recorded here by his Labour colleague Mary Kelly Foy, co-chair of the APPG.

Two days before that he spoke at a parliamentary event organised by ASH ...

In July 2023, as shadow public health minister he could be found at another parliamentary event reflecting 'on the strong cross-party support for tobacco control and the Smokefree 2030 ambition, and the role of both Labour and Conservative governments in taking us closer to ending smoking'.

But his support for tobacco control goes back long before that. Writing for Labour List in 2015, for example, he claimed that 'The new car smoking ban is a landmark moment for public health'.

Landmark moment? To the best of my knowledge, only one person has been prosecuted for smoking in a car carrying children since the law was introduced, for which there are three possible explanations:

One, the law has been a spectacular success, dissuading millions of smokers from lighting up in car with a child present.

Two, the police are not enforcing the law because it's almost impossible.

Three, when the law was introduced very few smokers were still smoking in cars with children so the impact has been negligible.

You decide.

Either way, Gwynnne has been a keen supporter of tobacco control for a long time, and it seems he had his eye on pubs – the last refuge of the smoker – as well. (Pubs could be forced to close early as Labour considering crackdown on opening hours, health minister says.)

Although he will be quickly replaced as public health minister, his cocksure performance during the Tobacco and Vapes Public Bill Committee meetings suggested a politician comfortable in his brief and in a hurry to get the legislation through parliament, so he will undoubtedly be missed by the tobacco control lobby.

Speaking of which, keep an eye on the social media accounts of all those groups he declared "It was great to meet" – ASH, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Asthma + Lung UK, Mental Health Foundation, and Age UK.

A penny for their thoughts today.