Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 128, Issue 10, October 2014, Pages 904-910
Public Health

Original Research
The Fag Lady, revisited: Margaret Thatcher's efforts on behalf of the tobacco industry

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2014.07.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has offered many opportunities to reappraise her career. However it is not widely known that she acted as a consultant for the tobacco industry following her resignation from office. The availability of evidence from tobacco documents archives offers the opportunity to explore her work for Philip Morris, and more generally to assess how industry seeks to influence and use elected and former public officials.

Study design and methods

Analysis of documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu). Memos, letters and other documents were sought which mentioned Margaret Thatcher or other key individuals. Documents (n = 151) were downloaded as PDFs. Of these 51 provided relevant information.

Results

Margaret Thatcher advised Philip Morris on issues including advertising bans, lowering of tobacco tariffs in EEC countries, reducing tobacco taxes, and anti-tobacco programs. She had previously been involved in moving two of her ministers from their posts in response to tobacco industry pressure. She advised Philip Morris to exert political pressure through the House of Commons by lobbying MPs against the Conservative government accepting ECOFIN, an European Union (EU) tax harmonisation agreement. Other activities included trips to Prague, Tokyo, Chicago, Geneva and Hong Kong on Philip Morris' behalf, or for meetings with Philip Morris executives.

Conclusions

Relationships between politicians and industry remain relevant today, not least because Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control includes the protection of public health policies from tobacco industry interference. The findings are consistent with findings from other studies which show tobacco industry attempts to influence governments, for example to attempt to weaken the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. They particularly point out the value of former senior politicians to industry, specifically their 'insider knowledge' which can be employed to gain access to and influence other policymakers on industry's behalf.

Introduction

Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, died on April 8th 2013. The first British female Prime Minister, she served three terms. According to her own definition, chief among the characteristics of Thatcherism was an emphasis on free markets, non-interventionism and limited government.1

After her resignation she acted as a consultant for the tobacco industry. These activities first came to light in a 1994 documentary for the Granada Television company's 'World in Action' series. The documentary, called 'The Fag Lady,' described how she may have been involved in attempts to open up Asian countries to foreign companies, including Philip Morris. Philip Morris, the documentary claimed, was targeting Taiwan in particular because it was aiming to ban cigarette advertising.2 Margaret Thatcher visited Taipei in August 1992 to give a lecture, paid for by Citybank, at which she spoke of scrapping import barriers and the need for Taiwan to open its markets, and spoke on this issue in Thailand, Turkey, and South Korea. There is evidence that she was briefed by the tobacco industry before speaking.3 The documentary also suggested that the Thatcher Foundation which she established in 1991 played a part in ensuring that Philip Morris was able to buy the national tobacco company in Khazakstan. 'The Fag Lady' concluded with a statement from tobacco control campaigner Dr. Judith Mackay that 'history would judge Margaret Thatcher harshly' for her involvement in pushing tobacco in developing countries. However twenty years later Margaret Thatcher's activity as a consultant for Philip Morris is now largely forgotten.4

It is timely to explore further what she did, and what value she was to Philip Morris, and the Legacy Tobacco Documents Archives now make this possible. This issue is also of wider interest because of public interest in the tobacco industry's influence on the UK Conservative party, particularly in relation to delays by the UK Government in introducing plain packaging of cigarettes, with claims that the Conservative Party's election strategist, Lynton Crosby, has close links to the tobacco industry and was involved through his PR company in lobbying against the introduction of plain packaging in Australia.5 More generally it offers the opportunity to consider how the tobacco industry has sought to influence politicians in and out of office. The potential role of credible or influential individuals has been highlighted elsewhere6 and analysis of the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and the tobacco industry can shed further light on these issues.

Section snippets

Methods

The authors searched the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu) to identify documents related to Margaret Thatcher. The search used her name as a keyword and the names of other key individuals (named below) using a snowballing technique. This initial search identified 151 potentially relevant documents from which they identified a subset of 66 relevant documents. The searches were completed in September 2013 and updated in June 2014; no significant new material was

Results

There are two significant events in Margaret Thatcher's relationship to the tobacco industry; the first is the controversy over the role of the tobacco industry in influencing her government, with claims in the Observer newspaper in 1981 that she had moved two health ministers, including Sir George Young, from their posts under pressure from the tobacco industry7; at the same time it was claimed that her husband Denis had asked health ministers to relax restrictions on sports sponsorship by

Discussion

Margaret Thatcher's involvement with the tobacco industry is of more than historic interest. As noted above, the issue of tobacco industry influence on the UK Conservative party has arisen recently, with claims that the UK Government's decision to postpone plain packaging of cigarettes was due to the influence of tobacco industry lobbyists.5 The close historic relationship between the UK Conservative party and the tobacco industry is well-documented in Peter Taylor's 'The Smoke Ring'.7 The

Ethical approval

Not required (document analysis).

Funding

None.

Competing interests

None.

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