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Health Bill

Unlike the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth), who could by no stretch of the imagination be described as a zealot about anything, I admit to being a bit of a zealot when it comes to smoking. Indeed, I have been a virulent anti-smoker for many years. If someone put my name into Google or looked me up in ““Who’s Who?””, they would see that I once described smoking as being a dirty, filthy, stinking, antisocial, expensive, bourgeois habit. [Interruption.] That is my weird sense of humour. We all know that these days smoking is generally a working-class habit. I approach the subject with an almost missionary fervour. About 10 years ago, when the issue of not smoking was not particularly fashionable, I was leader of Derby city council, where we brought in an anti-smoking policy. We stopped all smoking in the work force and required people who indulged in this dirty, filthy, stinking, antisocial and expensive habit to go to little nicotine-ridden rooms where they could have a quick drag in clouds of smoke. We did that because there was a huge conflict between smokers and non-smokers in open office areas. We introduced that policy in June 1995. In November 1995, we went further and wrote it into people’s contract of employment and stated it in all job adverts. Applicants were advised that we had a clear non-smoking policy and that, if they wanted to smoke in the workplace, they need not bother to apply for a job at Derby city council. I came in for some heavy criticism. I was told, ““You’re denying the city council the chance of employing the very best employees around.”” I replied, ““I think that people who smoke are stupid, and why would Derby city council want to employ stupid people?””