Penny Mordaunt Joins BAT

News of her appointment to the tobacco giant came by way of a letter from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.

Penny Mordaunt told the Committee that she would be focussing on harm reduction and testing British American Tobacco’s strategy to reduce its reliance on combustible products.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments responded: “You approached the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (the Committee) under the government’s Business Appointments Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules) seeking advice on taking up a paid role as a Member of the Transformation Advisory Board with British American Tobacco Plc (British American Tobacco).

“The purpose of the Rules is to protect the integrity of the government. The Committee has considered the risks associated with the actions and decisions made during your time in office, alongside the information and influence you may offer British American Tobacco as a former minister. The material information taken into consideration by the Committee is set out in the annex.

“The Committee’s advice is not an endorsement of the appointment - it imposes a number of conditions to mitigate the potential risks to the government associated with the appointment under the Rules. 

“The Ministerial Code sets out that ministers must abide by the Committee’s advice. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to manage the propriety of any appointment. Former ministers of the Crown, and Members of Parliament, are expected to uphold the highest standards of propriety and act in accordance with the 7 Principles of Public Life.”

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments considered the risks presented by her appointment with British American Tobacco.

It added: “The sale and regulation of tobacco and vapes was a government priority whilst you were in office and remains a priority under the new administration. Your responsibility, as Chair of the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Cabinet Committee, was to ensure that The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was given appropriate time and priority in the legislative programme. You did not meet with, nor did you make any policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to British American Tobacco whilst in office. Policy related to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is owned by the relevant department (it is currently sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care). Therefore, the Committee considered that the risk that this role could be seen as a reward for your decisions in office is limited. 

“The Cabinet Office was not aware of any specific information you have had access to that would offer an unfair advantage to British American Tobacco. The Tobacco and Vapes bill has progressed past the second reading and the Bill has now moved onto the Committee stage, which is a matter for the current government and Parliament. Given that the matters you oversaw through the legislative programme in office are now in the public domain, privileged information you had access to is limited.  It is also relevant that you have been out of office for five months, creating a gap between your access to information in government and your role with British American Tobacco. 

“There are risks associated with your influence and network of contacts gained whilst in ministerial office. In particular, British American Tobacco has a significant interest in current and future government policy, regulation, taxation and the shape of future decisions in respect of tobacco, vaping and related products. It has an active lobbying arm and you noted that lobbying will not form part of your role. To do so either directly or indirectly would be contrary to the lobbying ban that applies to all former ministers on leaving office. 

“Given the risk you may be perceived to offer British American Tobacco unfair access to government, the Committee contacted the company to confirm compliance with its advice, including the ban on lobbying. British American Tobacco confirmed that your work will involve no lobbying, or other activities that would be incompatible with the government’s Rules and the Committee’s advice.”

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments told Mardaunt:

• you should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself or the persons or organisations to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial office;
• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK government or any of its arm’s length bodies on behalf of British American Tobacco Plc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients); nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in the government and/or ministerial office to influence policy, secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage British American Tobacco Plc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients); 
• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not provide advice to or on behalf of British American Tobacco Plc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients) on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of, a bid with, or contract relating directly to the work of the UK government or any of its arm’s length bodies; and 
• for two years from your last day in ministerial office you should not have any direct engagement on behalf of British American Tobacco Plc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients) with the UK government.

Hazel Cheeseman, CEO of Action on Smoking and Health, told Business Matters magazine: “Penny Mordaunt is joining a company that makes 80 per cent of its income from lethal combusted tobacco. While it talks up its approach to ‘harm reduction’, in countries where it can promote its cigarettes, it does. The British public do not trust tobacco companies — and I doubt they will be impressed by a former politician providing it highly-paid advice.”

Photo Credit:

• Cigarettes Photo by Shaun Meintjes on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.