Intended for healthcare professionals

Longer version

Why Ken Clarke is unfit to be Tory leader

Mike Daube

professor of health policy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia M.Daube{at}curtin.edu.au

Benjamin Disraeli, the father of modern Conservatism, wrote, "The first consideration of a minister should be the health of the people."1 Now a prominent candidate for the Conservative Party leadership is Kenneth Clarke, deputy chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT).

BAT is the world’s second biggest tobacco company, selling more than 850 billion cigarettes annually.2 Clarke is a central figure in the company, has been a well paid deputy chairman for seven years,3 and energetically promotes the company and its products around the world. He has been actively involved in BAT’s efforts to undermine the tobacco control work of organisations such as the World Health Organization and the European Union.4,5,6

He defends his company’s activities with lines tobacco manufacturers have used for 50 years: "BAT did not want to sell their products to children and did not aim their products at children."7 This lacks credibility in London, let alone in developing countries, where children know little about the dangers of smoking but cannot miss BAT’s aggressive advertising.8

Clarke even (for an extra £25 000 ($44 035; €36 315) became chairman of British American Racing,9 which in the words of BAT’s advisers reaches "young people (who) are traditionally early adopters of new media capabilities and consequently a very receptive audience."10

Clarke has supported the industry since his election in 1970 as MP for Rushcliffe, a tobacco constituency. Against the modest constraints proposed by David Owen as health minister in the mid-1970s he defended an "understandable exasperation growing on the part of the tobacco industry, which is manufacturing a lawful product . . .".11

The 1979 election result seemed good news for tobacco control. Sir George Young, a junior minister for health, was committed to forceful action. But in September 1981 he was moved sideways, and shortly afterwards Clarke became minister for health. Far from opposing tobacco promotion, in July 1982 Clarke, as health minister, drove in the first race at the massively promoted Marlboro Grand Prix.11

In December 1983 the Observer’s political editor, Adam Raphael, reported on "the cosy relationship that exists between Government and the tobacco industry." One example he cited was the Health Promotion Research Trust established by the government and tobacco industry to justify a feeble new voluntary agreement on tobacco advertising. The trust was funded by the tobacco industry. It was condemned by the medical establishment, but strongly supported by the minister. Raphael also quoted a letter from Clarke pressuring the chairman of the government-funded Health Education Council "to soften its line on low tar cigarettes and actively to promote their use." Raphael wrote that this "bordered on the improper," and that "health ministers should not be promoting the interests of tobacco manufacturers."12

Kenneth Clarke remained minister for health until 1985, returning to the portfolio as secretary of state from 1988 to 1990.

Until the early 1980s Britain was a leader in researching the harmful consequences of smoking, and quitting. The United Kingdom has continued to produce superb research, but Clarke’s appointment to the health portfolio marked an end to the government’s leadership role. Between 1983 and 2003 the prevalence in the United Kingdom fell from 35% to 27%. Over the same period prevalence in Australia, which in 1983 was slightly higher than in the United Kingdom, at 35.4%, fell to 17.4%.13

Documents now available show that Clarke maintained contact and socialised with BAT and other tobacco companies during his ministerial career. In 1992, as secretary of state for education and science, he was lobbied by the Philip Morris company to oppose a proposed European directive. In accepting Philip Morris’s invitation to the Formula One Grand Prix he wrote, "I remain happily opposed to the advertising and sponsorship ban being proposed by the [European] Commission. I will certainly do my best to ensure that our government maintains its opposition."14

In July 1992, as home secretary, he appointed the chairman of BAT, Sir Patrick Sheehy, to be chairman of the inquiry into police responsibilities and rewards—hailed by BAT and Sheehy in a media statement as "a compliment to the [BAT] Group."15 Shortly after 1997, when labour came to power, Clarke was appointed to the BAT board.16

There was a time when the conduct of tobacco industry leaders could be explained, if not excused. Many had started in the industry long before the first evidence on the dangers of smoking appeared. But Clarke started supporting and working for the tobacco industry many years after the dangers of smoking had been demonstrated beyond doubt by Sir Richard Doll and Sir Austin Bradford Hill,17 and confirmed by innumerable authoritative reports. Clarke himself noted in 1976, that "for some years we have known the effects that tobacco smoke can have upon health," and "the rather feeble attempts to dispute the scientific evidence have now petered out."18

BAT knows that smoking kills one in two of its regular users,19 and is predicted to cause a billion deaths this century.20 With one sixth of the global market, BAT’s products can already be credited with upwards of three quarters of a million deaths every year.

The tobacco industry comprises evil companies, promoting and selling a product they know to be lethal. Kenneth Clarke has been a supporter of the industry for over 30 years, and one of its leaders since 1998. Surely a peddler of death and disease has no place aspiring to lead the party of Disraeli, let alone a great country. If he is elected, companies such as BAT will flourish with access at the highest levels, while their products kill more and more millions in Britain and around the world.

Competing interests: MD has been actively involved in campaigning for tobacco control since 1973.

1 B Disraeli. Manchester, 3 April 1872 (A Web of English History, www.historyhome.co.uk size="2">).

2 British American Tobacco. Annual report 2004. www.bat.com size="2"> (accessed 3 Sep 2005).

3 British American Tobacco website. www.bat.com (accessed 3 Sep 2005).

4 British American Tobacco. Internal memorandum, 22 February 2000. http://bat.library.ucsf.edu/pageview?a=view&tid=pvz23a99&total=8&page=8 (accessed 6 Sep 2005).

5 Rimmer L. BAT’s big wheeze. London: ASH, 2004.

6 Bitton A, Neuman M, Glantz S. Tobacco industry attempts to subvert European Union tobacco advertising legislation. San Francisco: Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, 2002.

7 British American Tobacco. Internal memorandum, 22 February 2000. http://bat.library.ucsf.edu/pageview?a=view&tid=pvz23a99&total=8&page=8 (accessed 6 Sep 2005).

8 Rimmer L. BAT’s big wheeze. London: ASH, 2004.

9 British American Tobacco. Directors’ report and accounts, Annual Report 2004. www.bat.com (accessed 3 Sep 2005).

10 Carlyle J, Collin J, Muggli ME, Hunt RD. British American Tobacco and Formula One motor racing. BMJ 2004;329:104-6.

11 Taylor P. Smoke ring. London: Bodley Head, 1984.

12 Raphael A. A government health warning. Observer, 4 December 1983.

13 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Statistics on drug use in Australia 2004. Canberra: AIHW, 2005.

14 Bitton A, Neuman M, Glantz S. Tobacco industry attempts to subvert European Union tobacco advertising legislation. San Francisco: Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, 2002.

15 News from BAT Industries. Press Announcement. BAT Industries PLC. London, 6 July 1992.

16 British American Tobacco. Press statement, 16 October1997.

17 Doll R, Hill AB. Smoking and carcinoma of the lung. BMJ 1950;221(ii):739-48.

18 Hansard, 16 January 1976, col 856.

19 Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years’ observations on male British doctors. BMJ 2004;328:1519.

20 Peto R et al. Mortality from smoking in developed countries, 1950-2000. Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications, 1994.