Fox hunters, beagles and cold pensioners would be well-advised to
sign up Messrs Ecclestone and Mosley to plead their cause. New Labour’s
pre-election stance was against tobacco promotion in all its forms.
Eschewing professional lobbyists, motor-racing’s svengalis shunted
Labour into the first major U-turn of the new administration, to exempt
Formula 1 from the proposed ban on tobacco sponsorship. Some
commentators saw this as a sign of strength in Tony Blair, notably Peter
Oborne in the Express on 9 Nov: ’Tobacco U-turn is Blair’s finest
hour’.
The real story was a political one, pitting Frank Dobson against his
deputy Tessa Jowell. But the story put up side shows: Ms Jowell’s
husband’s involvement with Benetton, Richard Branson’s vow to find
non-tainted cash and the return of Bernie Ecclestone’s donation to the
Labour Party.
For once, Britain agreed with other EU partners, none of whom wanted to
give F1’s moneymen an open invitation to decamp to the Pacific Rim where
tobacco advertising is blatant and legal.
Evaluation and analysis by CARMA International. Cuttings supplied by The
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ’What The Papers Say’ can be found at:
www.carma.com.
