Blair under pressure over tobacco firm probe

James Lyons, Political Correspondent,The Scotsman, 24 May 2003

Tony Blair faced claims tonight that an inquiry into whether Britain’s biggest tobacco firm encouraged smuggling had been buried.

The accusation came along with details of the Prime Minister’s links to a tycoon with £3 billion invested in British American Tobacco.

MPs and anti-smoking groups demanded to know whether Mr Blair personally intervened in the inquiry into BAT because of his friendship with major shareholder Alain Dominique Perrin.

He took a five-day holiday in south-west France last year at the billionaire’s 15th-century chateau, The Independent on Sunday said.

M Perrin, who heads the luxury goods firm Richemont, has also stayed at the Prime Minister’s country residence Chequers.

And the paper reports that Mr Blair’s eldest son Euan had a summer job at Hackett, a shop owned by Richemont, before going to university.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “They met during a private family holiday. The contact was social. There is nothing to add to that.”

The Department of Trade and Industry probe into BAT “is being handled in the usual way”, he added.

But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Evan Harris said: “The best way for the Government to avoid these questions is for leading figures like the Prime Minister not to associate with people who invest in tobacco.

“It is an evil trade that kills.”

The Commons Health Select Committee fears the DTI inquiry set up in 2000 has been “kicked into the long grass”.

Labour chairman David Hinchliffe said: “I am concerned about the length of time (the inquiry) is taking and the committee always has the option of revising inquiries and records and this is certainly an issue I would not wish to abandon.”

It was a recommendation from the committee that prompted former Trade Secretary Stephen Byers to launch the DTI investigation, which was described as having a limited, rather than full-scale remit.

Mr Blair has run into controversy with the tobacco industry before.

The Labour Party was forced to give back a £1 million donation by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone after the Government argued for the motor sport’s exemption from a ban on tobacco advertising.