Revealed: Pro-vaping Tory MP’s all-expenses paid trip to Big Tobacco summit
Adam Afriyie previously failed to declare his wife’s shares in a vape firm. Last month he advocated for vaping at a tobacco industry conference in South Korea - joined by senior Tufton Street figures
Rishi Sunak declared war on smoking at Tory conference last week.
But while the prime minister was talking tough on tobacco, one of his own MPs had just returned from advocating for vaping at a major international conference funded by Big Tobacco, this newsletter can reveal.
Adam Afriyie told the audience at the Global Tobacco Nicotine Forum (GTNF) in Seoul last month that proponents of the “precautionary principle” in public health - such as advocates of curbs on vaping - were “sacrificing lives…on the altar of virtue signaling.”
The MP for Windsor - who was declared bankrupt in December - has often talked in the House of Commons about the benefits of vaping as a tool to quit smoking. He hit the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that he had failed to declare that his wife owned shares in a vaping retailer - shares she still owns, according to Companies House filings.
Andy Rowell, investigators editor of the Tobacco Control Research Group at Bath University, said Afriyie had “questions to answer” about his appearance at the Global Tobacco Networking Forum, whose sponsors include Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and e-cigarette maker Juul.
"Adam Afriyie’s constituents might well ask why he is flying halfway around the world to appear at a conference funded by the tobacco industry, full of tobacco industry lobbyists,” said Rowell.
A spokeswoman for Afriyie said that his flights and accommodation to Seoul were arranged by GTNF and would be declared in the Members’ Register of Financial Interests.
Last year Afriyie registered a £10,388 donation for an all-expenses paid trip to speak at GTNF in Washington DC.
Afriyie was not the only British conservative voice in Seoul. Mark Littlewood, outgoing director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, moderated a session on ‘reinforcing scientific research’. Also speaking at GTNF was Littlewood’s partner and former IEA staffer Angela Harbutt.
Harbutt had previously run ‘Hands Off Our Packs’, a now defunct tobacco-industry funded astroturf campaign opposed to anti-smoking legislation.
This week the IEA newsletter heavily criticised Sunak for supposedly bowing to “the ‘public health’ mob” in moving to ban smoking. The IEA has previously received funding from British American Tobacco.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity ASH, said that views of Afriyie and the IEA “do not represent the views of the public or the health community.”
Last month, a major US conference featuring Tony Blair and Sadiq Khan cut all ties with the tobbacco industry following reports in this newsletter.
Sunak has been praised by anti-smoking campaigners but some have asked why the prime minister has not done more to limit vaping.
Vaping has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly among young people.
Afriyie is vice chair of the all party parliamentary group (APPG) on vaping, which has been criticised for taking funding from the UK Vaping Industry Association, which has tobacco industry as members and on its board.
Documents released to this newsletter under Freedom of Information legislation show how the vaping APPG lobbied former health minister Maggie Throup for e-cigarettes.
In briefing notes marked ‘official sensitive’ prepared for Throup ahead of a meeting with Afriyie and the vaping APPG in February 2022, a civil servant wrote that “the APPG are keen to push Government further on vaping – our position is that whilst vapes they are not risk free, they have an important role to play in smoking cessation.
“We are pursuing several measures to increase the opportunities for vapes, which align with some of the group’s aspirations.” (All these documents are published below)
Earlier this year, the government announced that vaping would play a leading role in the UK’s smoking cessation efforts.
Andy Rowell of Bath university’s Tobacco Control Research Group said that "there is growing alarm in public health circles that current UK policy is leading to ever greater numbers of children becoming addicted to vaping whilst also causing an ecological crisis. Five million single-use e-cigarettes are thrown away each week in the UK "
When contacted by this newsletter, Adam Afriyie said: “My crusade is to ensure that any, and all legislation is evidence based and led by the science.
“In the UK our regulations are based on harm-reduction rather than the precautionary principle. We should not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good and we know that vaping saves lives as one of the most effective ways to quit smoking”.
He declined to comment on his wife’s shareholding on a vaping retailer.
Given the article's focus on Vaping, I would respectfully point out that:
- Philip Morris stated it has an ~1% share of the global E-Vapor market (investor day, Sep-23)
- BAT stated it has a 38% share of the E-Vapor market in the top 5 key countries (results, 23H1)
They are not necessarily aligned in terms of what they want from regulators
PM shareholders (which include us) will probably make more money if Vaping is banned.
"But while the prime minister was talking tough on tobacco, one of his own MPs had just returned from advocating for vaping at a major international conference". Basically the same thing.
Oh and UKVIA no longer has tobacco companies on its board. Keep up.