Conduct Of Lord Wakeham And Payments To The Conservative Party By The Tobacco Industry

EDM number 481 in 1997-98, proposed by DN Campbell-Savours on 19/11/1997.

That this House notes that in the years 1990 to 1994 Hanson Trust on behalf of Imperial Tobacco which they owned contributed nearly half a million pounds to the Conservative party; notes that in 1994 a proposal supported by three Conservative Ministers for a total ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship of sport was considered by the Conservative cabinet; notes that the proposed ban was blocked in a cabinet committee by a team which included Lord Wakeham; learns with concern that this block followed upon pressure from the tobacco industry; notes that the industry threatened to not only curb future annual contributions to the Conservatives but also to review its policy on the provision of poster sites for use in general elections unless the proposal was dropped; and calls for the Committee on Standards in Public Life to carry out a full inquiry into this whole affair.

This motion has been signed by a total of 20 MPs.