Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1H 9SH, UK.
Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1H 9SH, UK.
Public Health. 2014 Oct;128(10):904-10. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2014.07.006. Epub 2014 Sep 16.
The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has offered many opportunities to reappraise her career. However it is not widely known that she acted as a consultant for the tobacco industry following her resignation from office. The availability of evidence from tobacco documents archives offers the opportunity to explore her work for Philip Morris, and more generally to assess how industry seeks to influence and use elected and former public officials.
Analysis of documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu). Memos, letters and other documents were sought which mentioned Margaret Thatcher or other key individuals. Documents (n = 151) were downloaded as PDFs. Of these 51 provided relevant information.
Margaret Thatcher advised Philip Morris on issues including advertising bans, lowering of tobacco tariffs in EEC countries, reducing tobacco taxes, and anti-tobacco programs. She had previously been involved in moving two of her ministers from their posts in response to tobacco industry pressure. She advised Philip Morris to exert political pressure through the House of Commons by lobbying MPs against the Conservative government accepting ECOFIN, an European Union (EU) tax harmonisation agreement. Other activities included trips to Prague, Tokyo, Chicago, Geneva and Hong Kong on Philip Morris' behalf, or for meetings with Philip Morris executives.
Relationships between politicians and industry remain relevant today, not least because Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control includes the protection of public health policies from tobacco industry interference. The findings are consistent with findings from other studies which show tobacco industry attempts to influence governments, for example to attempt to weaken the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. They particularly point out the value of former senior politicians to industry, specifically their 'insider knowledge' which can be employed to gain access to and influence other policymakers on industry's behalf.
英国前首相玛格丽特·撒切尔去世后，人们有机会重新审视她的职业生涯。然而，人们并不广泛知晓，她在卸任后曾担任烟草业的顾问。烟草文件档案中的证据为探讨她为菲利普莫里斯公司所做的工作提供了机会，更普遍地评估了行业如何寻求影响和利用当选和前公职人员。
分析来自遗产烟草文件图书馆（http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu）的文件。寻找提到玛格丽特·撒切尔或其他关键人物的备忘录、信件和其他文件。将文件（n = 151）作为 PDF 下载。其中 51 份提供了相关信息。
玛格丽特·撒切尔就广告禁令、降低 EEC 国家的烟草关税、降低烟草税和反烟草计划等问题为菲利普莫里斯提供咨询。她曾因烟草业的压力而将两名部长调离职位。她建议菲利普莫里斯通过游说议员反对保守党政府接受 ECOFIN（欧盟税收协调协议），在英国下议院施加政治压力。其他活动包括代表菲利普莫里斯前往布拉格、东京、芝加哥、日内瓦和香港旅行，或与菲利普莫里斯高管会面。
政客和行业之间的关系在今天仍然相关，尤其是因为世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约第 5.3 条包括保护公共卫生政策免受烟草业干扰。这些发现与其他研究的结果一致，这些研究表明，烟草业试图影响政府，例如试图削弱世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约。它们特别指出了前高级政治家对行业的价值，特别是他们可以代表行业获得和影响其他政策制定者的“内部知识”。
