Sunday, July 14, 2013 at 9:30 The Scotsman yesterday reported:
Scotland committed to plain cigarette pack plan
Invited to comment I gave this short quote:
“There must be a huge question mark over Scotland going it alone on plain packaging. I can’t imagine how it could possibly work in isolation from the rest of the United Kingdom.”
I'm discussing the issue on BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow at 9.40 or thereabouts.
Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 10:54 Busy day yesterday, for my colleague Angela Harbutt in particular.
Angela appeared on the BBC News Channel, Sky News, and Five News. She was also interviewed by BBC Radio London.
Back in Cambridge I did LBC and a couple of local radio stations.
Not for the first time BBC Radio Cambridgeshire described me as the "Huntingdon campaigner" which makes me sound like I'm fighting plans for a local by-pass or the demolition of a local landmark, usually a tree.
Forest was also quoted by BBC News, the Guardian, Marketing Week, Management Today, The Grocer and something called Public Service.
Amusingly the Guardian initially reported that:
The government's decision was welcomed by groups including the Tobacco Manufacturers Association, the pro-smoking group ASH and the Petrol Retailers Associations.
This however was corrected when I tweeted journalist Andrew Sparrow. A note was added to the online report that reads:
This article was amended on 12 July 2013. It originally said the decision was welcomed by the pro-smoking group ASH. This group is anti-smoking; it was the pro-smoking group Forest that welcomed the decision.
Anyway, it's a beautiful morning in Cambridgeshire and I am currently sitting in the garden, drinking coffee and reading the summary report on the consultation.
The first thing I checked, when I downloaded it yesterday, was the number of responses.
According to Jeremy Hunt's ministerial statement – which I imagine was written by a civil servant at the Department of Health – a majority of "detailed" responses (2424 in total) favoured plain packaging:
Of those who provided detailed feedback, some 53 per cent were in favour of standardised packaging while 43 per cent thought the Government should do nothing about tobacco packaging.
Echoing Chris Snowdon's comment here, I'm amazed those figures are so close. Given that the pro-plain pack brigade included a vast number of state sector organisations who were no doubt encouraged to submit a "detailed response", it says a lot that 'our' side almost matched them.
It means that a hell of a lot of private (as opposed to state-funded) companies and organisations submitted responses to the consultation.
They included retailers, tobacconists, packaging companies, design agencies, think tanks, you name it – a far broader cross-section of the country (I would argue) than the narrow public sector that contributed 53 per cent of the "detailed responses".
When it comes to the public response there's no contest. According to the summary report, which I imagine must have been written through gritted teeth and tear-stained cheeks:
In total, 665,989 campaign responses were received from 24 separate campaigns. Around two-thirds of campaign responses received were from people who are opposed to the introduction of standardised packaging (total of 427,888 responses) and one-third of campaign responses received were from people who are in support (238,101 responses) ...
A breakdown of the figures is quite interesting, to me anyway, because Forest's Hands Off Our Packs campaign did even better than we thought.
For almost a year – since the consultation closed in August 2012 – we claimed to have submitted the names of 235,000 people opposed to plain packaging.
At the time this figure was challenged by our opponents, including the APPG on Smoking and Health (run by ASH), who effectively accused Forest of cheating.
Now the consultation report has been published I see that the Department of Health credits Forest with the following:
Postcards – 55,201
Petition – 214,653
Total – 269,854
So we underestimated the success of our campaign! You couldn't make it up.
As an aside, I also note that the DH has included – on the pro-plain pack side – a total of 19,863 votes submitted by Avaaz, a global online community that launched a petition in favour of plain packaging 48 hours before the closing date for the consultation and just hours after Forest announced that we had raised 235,000 signatures against plain packs.
See: Plain packs brigade calls for international rescue.
It hardly matters now, but what a joke!
Anyway, add all the responses together and the slim "majority" in favour of plain packs changes dramatically.
The true result – not mentioned in the DH's ministerial statement or by reporters yesterday – is that 64 per cent of responses were against plain packaging with only 36 per cent in favour.
Now that's a landslide.
Finally, what of Labour health spokesman Diane Abbott, who Angela and I both had the 'pleasure' of going head-to-head with yesterday, me on LBC, Angela on Sky News.
Abbott – like many tobacco control advocates – has repeatedly accused the Government of doing a U-turn on plain packaging. It's both desperate and shameless.
Read my lips, Diane. A junior health minister (Anna Soubry) may have expressed support for plain packaging but the Government never committed itself to the policy.
The Government promised a public consultation and it delivered. It then considered the evidence and responses and rightly decided to postpone a decision until more compelling evidence is found to support the measure.
In the circumstances I consider that to be a sensible, mature decision, unlike the knee-jerk or unprincipled reactions more commonly associated with today's politicians.
The irony, of course, is that it was Soubry who had to stand before Parliament and explain the Government's decision.
Now that was a delicious and unexpected treat.
Who says there isn't a god?
See also: Fantastic Friday (Dick Puddlecote), Plain packaging officially ditched (Velvet Glove Iron Fist).
Finally you might like to read the report itself – Consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products: summary report.
Friday, July 12, 2013 at 10:58 The Department of Health has issued a Written Ministerial Statement on plain packaging:
Here's a taste:
Many thousands of responses to the consultation were received, and the views expressed were highly polarised, with strong views put forward on both sides of the debate and a range of organisations generating campaigns and petitions. Of those who provided detailed feedback, some 53% were in favour of standardised packaging while 43% thought the Government should do nothing about tobacco packaging.
Having carefully considered these differing views, the Government has decided to wait until the emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured before we make a final decision on this policy in England.
Currently, only Australia has introduced standardised packaging, although the Governments of New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland have committed to introduce similar policies. Standardised packaging, therefore, remains a policy under consideration.
In the meantime, the Government in England will continue to work to reduce smoking rates through ending the display of tobacco in all shops, running national behaviour change campaigns to encourage smokers to quit and through supporting local authorities to provide effective stop smoking services. Our strategy is working – we are recognised as the leading country in Europe for tobacco control and for the first time since records began, adult smoking rates are under 20%.
Interestingly, you have to download and read the actual report on the consultation in order to discover that:
In total, 665,989 campaign responses were received from 24 separate campaigns. Around two-thirds of campaign responses received were from people who are opposed to the introduction of standardised packaging (total of 427,888 responses) and one-third of campaign responses received were from people who are in support (238,101 responses) ...
Bizarrely the report claims that "the consultation was not intended, or designed, to elicit representative samples of public opinion".
As someone has just commented, "Is that not exactly what a ‘public’ consultation is intended to do?!"
One has to conclude that this is a face saving exercise on the part of civil servants at the Department of Health, hence they continue to spin to the bitter end.
There's only one thing that matters, however. The Government has formally announced that it will not introduce standardised packaging of tobacco any time soon.
I think we'll chalk that one down as a little victory.
Click here to download the Consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products: summary report.
Friday, July 12, 2013 at 4:30 Apologies for the lack of posts this past week.
We're working on a new project, to be revealed in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile the BBC has this morning confirmed that Standardised plain cigarette packaging plans shelved.
The government is to postpone its plans to introduce standardised plain packaging for cigarettes in the UK.
Ministers are expected to tell MPs that a decision on the policy has been formally delayed so that more time can be spent examining how similar plans have worked in Australia.
(I know this because I was woken at four o'clock this morning by someone – who shall remain nameless – who wanted to share the good news.)
A small point, perhaps, but I'm not aware the Government ever had "plans to introduce standardised plain packaging in the UK". Not officially, anyway.
My understanding, because ministers and civil servants repeated it ad nauseum, is that ministers (if not the Department of Health) always had an "open mind" on the subject.
The Government conducted a public consultation on the issue and rival campaigns produced the following result – an estimated 220,000 responses in favour, 500,000 against.
According to the BBC, however:
Campaigners said they were bitterly disappointed with the decision.
Actually, some campaigners are delighted but we don't seem to exist.
Instead the BBC reports that the consultation was extended by a month to allow more people to respond "after strong public interest in the issue".
Strong public interest! How about: Huge protest against excessive regulation and the nanny state or Unprecedented response" reveals strength of feeling:
My early morning caller suggested that the BBC report is a bit disingenuous. You decide.
Update: The BBC has updated its report to include a quote from my colleague Angela Harbutt.
They have also changed "Campaigners said they were bitterly disappointed" to "Health campaigners said they were bitterly disappointed".
A small point, perhaps, but an important one.
Our full response is on the Hands Off Our Packs website:
Update: BBC (Five Live Breakfast and the Today programme) are all over the story.
Great interview with the IEA's Mark Littlewood on Five Live.
James Naughtie on Radio Four shamelessly playing the UKIP card whilst ignoring the response to the public consultation.
Antis bleating on Twitter.
Conservative MP (and GP) Sarah Wollaston tweets:
R.I.P public health. A day of shame for this government; the only winners big tobacco, big alcohol and big undertakers
Stephen Williams MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, tweets:
Terrible decision by govt to stop plans for standard cigarette packs. Victory for tobacco lobby, defeat for public health.
Let's hope neither are promoted to junior health minister in the forthcoming reshuffle!
Update: The Guardian also has the story – with a quote by Forest – here: UK plans for plain cigarette packaging to be shelved. You can comment.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 9:00 Here's the video of last week's Freedom Dinner.
The uncut version was considerably longer but Dan Donovan edited it down to 12 minutes.
Features interviews with Pat Nurse, Gary Rogers and Angela Harbutt, among others.
We've also included snippets from the after dinner speeches by Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and the 'King of Spin' Lord Bell.
Star of the show is the magnificent Canary Wharf backdrop.
Thursday, July 4, 2013 at 15:33 
Well, that went quite well.
The second Freedom Dinner at Boisdale of Canary Wharf attracted over 150 guests, two excellent speakers and a host of complimentary tweets including one or two that sounded a little rueful about the amount of alcohol consumed.
For example:
#freedomdinner What a great night out @boisdaleCW
#freedomdinner was definitely THE place to be last night.
Fantastic #FreedomDinner last night.
Such a great night with you all for #freedomdinner!!
#freedomdinner - fantastic night!
#freedomdinner loved it! :)
Just recovering from #freedomdinner last night at @boisdaleCW - great speeches from Lord Bell and @MarkJLittlewood
#FreedomDinner was bloody amazing, great fun, fine food and drink, brilliant sociable ppl.
Brilliant night at #freedomdinner
Freedom is not free. Suffering from #freedomdinner last night.
Great evening at the Freedom Dinner. Good food, good company & witty speeches by Lord Bell & Mark Littlewood
Great speeches from @MarkJLittlewood and Lord Bell at the @Forest_Smoking #freedomdinner
Good wine, food, cigars and lovers of freedom/opponents of Puritan groupthink at the Forest #FreedomDinner. We are not clones to be moulded!
And last but not least:
Thank you to @forest_smoking and @boisdaleCW for a fantastic/hilarious evening. Very rare evening in London so great to see so many friends.
The day started early because I'd been invited to Wimbledon with instructions to be there by 11.45 (for lunch), or 11.00 if I wanted a pre-lunch drink. (Decisions, decisions.)
A combination of food, drink and light rain meant we watched no more than 20 minutes' tennis on Court 1 before retreating to our corporate marquee for another drink or two.
Sadly I had to leave early to get to Canary Wharf for our own event.
By the time I got there – via taxi and Tube – guests had already started to arrive and were being directed to the smoking terrace overlooking Cabot Square.
If you've never been to Canary Wharf it's quite spectacular, very different to the rest of London. I love it.
I remember it when there was very little infrastructure. Today there are shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, more bars ... and Boisdale, which opened a restaurant there in 2011.
The weather on Tuesday was grey and overcast but warm enough to enjoy the smoking terrace. (In colder weather Boisdale has heaters and tartan blankets to keep customers warm.)
Like last year guests were offered a choice of champagne or Chivas Regal whisky cocktails. This time the whisky cocktails were less to my taste because they tasted rather strongly of, er, whisky.
Perhaps that was a blessing. Last year the taste of the whisky was masked by lemon and I had far too many. (That's all I will say.)
Anyway, with all the guests having arrived, including stragglers from Wimbledon, we sat down for dinner in the main restaurant. It took 15 minutes to get everyone seated but the alphabetical guest list and table plan seemed to work.
Co-host Ranald Macdonald, proprietor of Boisdale, had invited his parents, The Captain of Clanranald and Lady Jane of Clanranald.
Other guests included Christopher Chope MP, David Amess MP, and the Hon Christopher Gilmour (son of former Conservative minister Sir Ian Gilmour aka Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar).
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) had its own table. The Adam Smith Institute was represented, as was the TaxPayers' Alliance even though The Freedom Dinner coincided with the TPA's Summer Party.
Journalists rubbed shoulders with political researchers and advisors and there were also representatives from the worlds of food, drink and gambling.
Guests on the Forest table included Lord Bell, Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes), Mick Hume (former editor of Living Marxism and author of There Is No Such Thing As A Free Press), and Trevor Baylis OBE. A great friend of Forest who attends most of our events, Trevor is famous for having invented the clockwork radio. He's also a former Pipesmoker of the Year.
There were a couple of changes from the first Freedom Dinner in 2012. Last year we booked a brilliant band to play after dinner. However – and we should probably have anticipated this – most of our guests shot off to the smoking terrace as soon as the speeches were over leaving only a handful of people listening to the band.
This time we arranged for the band to play on stage during dinner, and play on the terrace after dinner.
And so to the speeches, the first by Mark Littlewood, director-general of the IEA, the second by Lord Bell, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, FW de Clerk and many more.
We're going to publish Mark's speech online in the next day or two, but here's a flavour:
My Mum and Dad taught me the secret to a long and healthy life – and that’s why I never touched a cigarette, a drink or a girl until I was ten years old ...
I’m not a heavy drinker, I sometimes go for hours without a drop. And I have a firm rule never to smoke more than one cigarette at a time ...
I don’t take illegal drugs. I believe cocaine is God's way of saying you're making too much money.
And so on.
Likewise, we are going to transcribe Lord Bell's speech. In the meantime, I will direct you to this post on the Spectator website – Lord Bell savages ‘pygmy’ Cameron.
It's not strictly true. Cameron wasn't mentioned by name.
Lord Bell certainly had strong words to say about Blair but it wasn't entirely clear whether he was pulling our legs.
After dinner it was back to the smoking terrace for more drinks and live music.
Dan Donovan, his sound engineer Ben and I spent some time recording interviews with guests but – I'll be honest – I don't think everyone was entirely sober. Talk about verbosity!
I have instructed Dan to edit as best he can but we may have to abandon that part of the video. Less is more, as they say.
Thanks to everyone who supported The Freedom Dinner. It was great fun and we hope to see you again next year.
Update: Pat Nurse has written a nice piece for her blog - click here.
Photos courtesy of Dan Donovan. Top: Mark Littlewood. Below: Lord Bell. Click here for more photos of the event. Boisdale has also posted pictures on Facebook. See Behind the Scenes at The Freedom Dinner.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 10:50 
Looking forward to The Freedom Dinner at Boisdale of Canary Wharf tonight.
It's going to be hard to top last year's event but we've already got more guests (160, 30 up on last year) and I don't think you'll find a better pair of speakers on the political circuit.
As previously reported, we've got Lord Bell, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan etc, and Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
One small problem is that I've been invited to Wimbledon today and I'm going to have to leave early if I'm to stand any chance of getting to Canary Wharf before our guests start arriving at six. (I know, I know, your heart bleeds for me.)
Anyway, someone tweeted, shortly after we posted a video of the Forest boat party two weeks ago, that we were nothing but a bunch of "drunken toffs smoking cigars".
That's not my experience. One of the great things about Forest events is that guests come from a remarkably diverse range of backgrounds, unlike most political events I have ever been to.
I'm sure there will be a few toffs smoking cigars tonight but they will be hugely outnumbered by the hoi polloi.
Nevertheless, skipping through the guest list I am delighted to note one Honourable gentleman, two Honourable ladies, four double-barrelled surnames and, best of all, The Captain of Clanranald.
Throw in several MPs, a handful of journalists and more political researchers than I care to mention and it all adds up to what – fingers crossed – should be another great night.
PS. Just arrived at Wimbledon. Looking forward to my first drink of the day in around ten minutes.
Simon Clark
Isn't it strange how our detractors often bring class into it?
Describing another Forest event, in 2008, the Guardian's Libby Brooks wrote 'The truth is some smokers are more equal than others'.
To emphasise her point about Forest and class, Brooks described Boisdale – the venue for that 2008 party – as a "smart private members' club" which it's not. It's a very public bar/restaurant.
Still, that didn't stop Labour MP Kerry McCarthy charging in a couple of weeks later with her own little dig:
"My recent post about the success of the smoking ban mentioned a reception by Forest, the pro-smoking group at a private members club in Belgravia. And today they're having a champagne tea party for MPs in the Commons. Kind of bears out what Libby Brooks is saying in today's Guardian."
See A Labour MP writes (Taking Liberties)
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 8:39 Another day another piece of abject lunacy.
A council in North Wales wants to ban smoking in and around children's play areas.
A report by Conwy Council says, “Children are at particular risk of second-hand smoke and they are more likely to start smoking themselves if they see adults smoking in a family-friendly environment.”
I responded as best I could when invited to comment but words (almost) failed me.
Does anyone in their right mind honestly believe children (or anyone else) is at risk from other people's smoke in the open air?
Why ten metres? Why not five, or 50?
As for being influenced by the sight of adults smoking ... Well, it's true that children are influenced by family members or their peer group, but complete strangers? I'd like to see evidence of that.
Other councils in North Wales seem less inclined to follow Conwy's lead but don't rule it out.
Thanks to the Coalition government, councils have been given greater responsibility for public health and this is just the sort of eye-catching, headline-grabbing nonsense that will appeal to a certain type of local politician who wants to get his name in the paper.
See: Plan to fine smokers who light up within 30ft of children's playgrounds (Daily Post)