Laughably bad

ConservativeHome yesterday posted an article (by me) about Josie Appleton's new report for Forest, published on Monday.

'How local authorities are waging war on personal freedom' is an amended version of my foreword to that report, with a new ending that reads:

In recent weeks we’ve heard a lot about government overreach in relation to the way ministers have responded to the coronavirus. If there’s one group familiar with government overreach– at national and local level – it’s smokers. As one participant in a recent Forest webinar noted, “Smokers have been in lockdown since 2007.” He was referring to the year smoking was banned in every pub and club in the country and although it may be a stretch to compare the two situations, smokers know all about enforced isolation.

Councillors and local authority chief executives should therefore think twice before giving the green light to further intrusions into the lives of millions of ordinary people who are fed up with being dictated to by an army of politicians and public health professionals. The ‘smokefree’ utopia envisaged by many anti-smoking campaigners may appear benign and caring to some (including, I suspect, many readers of ConservativeHome). In reality however a ‘smokefree’ world will only be achieved by removing people’s freedom to think for themselves and make their own choices, so be careful what you wish for.

I've been writing the occasional article for ConHome for several years and during that time I've noticed a significant increase in the number of intolerant and downright aggressive comments about smokers and smoking.

My latest piece got a similar response:

Cigarette breaks should be banned. They mean the other staff do more work while the smokers bunk off for a fag every hour.

I support freedom - like the freedom not to be subjected to the filthy stench caused by smokers.

Good. Smoking is disgusting.

Why not quit smoking and solve the problem, like millions of other people have done?

I fully support the actions of any employer - in either the public or private sector - that wishes to stamp out the practice of smoking while at work.

And so on.

The belligerence of some of the comments is disappointing but it doesn’t surprise me.

In my experience - having once edited a Conservative student magazine and later Freedom Today, the magazine of The Freedom Association (a microcosm of the Tory party) - the proportion of genuine liberals within Conservative ranks has always been very small.

There are just as many - possibly more - authoritarian views within the party but the majority of members are simple, middle-of-the-road paternalists, economically and socially.

Unfortunately many of the well-meaning paternalists of the past are being replaced by a more intrusive and judgemental type of Tory, and this is seen at every level of government where there is an internal battle taking place between cavaliers and roundheads.

(You can see it too in the reaction of party members to the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.)

Meanwhile, responding to my ConHome article on social media, Cllr Daniel Humphreys, Conservative leader of Worthing Borough Council since 2015, tweeted:

This is laughably bad.

The author’s evidence that councils are “waging war on personal freedom” is that a third of councils have banned smoking in children’s playgrounds and most don’t let employees take extra breaks for a smoke.

This is what I actually wrote:

According to Appleton’s research, 192 councils (68 per cent of those that responded to her Freedom of Information requests) have a policy restricting or banning smoking at work, while almost a third now restrict smoking in open air public spaces, including children’s play areas, parks, beaches, council campuses or open air public events, with some of these bans enforced with fixed penalty notices.

Forty-nine councils ban cigarette breaks entirely, even if workers clock off, while a further 87 councils require workers to clock off or to obtain permission from a manager. In total, 113 councils currently ban smoking outside council buildings with some requiring employees to leave the site entirely or stand up to 50 metres from a council building to light up.

Oh, and since you ask, this is Worthing Borough Council’s policy on smoking (and vaping):

Employees are not permitted to smoke or vape on Council premises including car parks, pavements, parks, as well as buildings and playing fields.

Perhaps, before dismissing my article (and the evidence) as "laughably bad", Cllr Humphreys should have looked closer to home.