A group of MPs who received hospitality worth thousands of pounds from one of the world’s biggest tobacco firms is facing a parliamentary inquiry after voting in the House of Commons against anti-smoking regulations.
A dozen MPs, including Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, and Edward Garnier, the solicitor-general, were given tickets to the Chelsea flower show costing £1,132 for themselves plus a guest by Japan Tobacco International (JTI), the third-largest tobacco company in the world. Each politician and their guest was also given lunch at the horticultural event meaning that in total JTI spent almost £14,000 on the occasion.
Within a month, six of the MPs, all Conservatives, tried to block a Commons move to ban adults from smoking in private vehicles carrying children. The new anti-tobacco regulations proposed by Alex Cunningham, a Labour MP, were steered through to a second reading by 78 votes to 66.
Cunningham indicated that he would write to John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, to raise concerns about the matter. “I was rather disturbed to hear that people who had accepted such lavish entertainment from a tobacco company could vote against a measure to protect children from the very product their hosts make their profits from,” he said.
The six MPs are Dr Therese Coffey, Richard Ottaway, Christopher Pincher, Alun Cairns, Stephen Metcalfe and Michael Ellis. All recorded in the members’ interests register that they had received JTI’s hospitality before the vote.
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Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: “This sort of behaviour brings our political system into disrepute because it does look like it’s relatively easy to influence MPs’ votes.”
A JTI spokesman said: “We invite politicians to our events, and this exchange of views has helped bring more balance to an otherwise one-sided debate.”