F1-Formula One News on the Web
Archive, Fall, 1997
Note: These articles wink in and out of existence with the frequency of sub-atomic particles. Many links will be dead. In that case, these pages can be approached as bibliographies, both noting the event, and showing where you might look for further information.
- "We intend to negotiate with Formula One the level of advertising that is seen worldwide. They have declared their intention to do that and we have accepted their offer in good faith. It is practical politics." Jowell said. "What matters is that we actually achieve a policy which doesn't threaten Formula One in this country or throughout Europe but also achieves our public health objective of safeguarding and protecting young people from the influence of tobacco advertising."
- THE Government has reluctantly decided to abandon its plan to ban tobacco sponsorship of Formula One motor racing. Instead it will press the sport's governing body to introduce a voluntary code to reduce the level of advertising at racetracks worldwide. . . after long negotiations with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Tessa Jowell, the Public Health Minister, has concluded that it would be counter-productive to bring in the ban for Formula One, which derives about £100 million a year from the tobacco industry. . . A ban has been included in the draft for the European Union directive on controlling tobacco sponsorship, but yesterday Miss Jowell sent a letter to her opposite numbers in the EU advising them that it would be best to exclude Formula One.
- Ms Jowell has overseen the review of tobacco advertising and sponsorship and confirmed yesterday that Formula One would be exempt from any ban. However, it emerged that she had sought and received clearance from Sir Graham Hart, the Department of Health permanent secretary, for her participation in this work, because her husband, David Mills, was until recently a non-executive director of a Formula One company, Benetton Formula. He remains the company's legal adviser, although the Department of Health said he was refusing to act for the company "in any questions concerning tobacco sponsorship." . . It also emerged yesterday that the decision to exempt Formula One followed a meeting on October 16 between Tony Blair, the prime minister, and the most powerful man in Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, whose company Formula One Holding owns the television rights to the sport.
- A U.K. government minister involved in the tobacco sponsorship review, which has exempted Formula One motor racing a sponsorship ban, has links with the motor racing industry, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Tessa Jowell, the public health minister who has overseen the review, is married to David Mills, who was until recently a non-executive director of Formula One company Benetton Formula. The newspaper said Mills resigned from his position at Benetton Formula after Labour's election victory in May, because of the potential conflict of interest with his wife's work.
- TONY BLAIR was accused of destroying an eight-year effort to end cigarette advertising across Europe yesterday after he decided to exempt Formula One motor racing from a tobacco sponsorship ban. The Prime Minister's U-turn has almost certainly scuppered any chance of a Europe-wide advertising ban this century the EU had expected to approve one next month. It has also infuriated the health lobby, which said the Government had been blackmailed, and other sports, which are demanding similar exemptions.
- The Prime Minister was persuaded by Max Mosley, president of the sport's governing body and Bernie Ecclestone, president of the Formula One Association, that the future of motor racing would be jeopardised and thousands of jobs lost if the sport was covered by the ban. The meeting was the culmination of a two-year lobbying campaign. Senior administrators met Mr Blair at social events before and after the election. They noticed that both Mr Blair and John Prescott, his deputy, were motor racing enthusiasts.
- MAX MOSLEY, 57, head of motorsport's world governing body, sacrificed a career at the Bar to pursue his ambition to become a racing driver. It was a dream that ended when he crashed at 150mph in his Lotus at Nürburgring 30 years ago. He had taken part a year earlier in the Formula Two race at Hockenheim in which Jim Clark was killed, and his own crash convinced his wife that the sport was too dangerous to allow him to go on driving.
- THE threat to shift Formula One's powerbase from Europe to the Pacific Rim was couched in common courtesies. But anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the world's most commercially successful sport knew it was not an idle gesture. Two new circuits, in Malaysia and South Korea, will be ready to be included in the Formula One calendar from 1999. Plans for expansion into Indonesia, China and India are well advanced. . . The only team to make a conscious effort to distance itself from cigarette sponsorship is Stewart Grand Prix, launched this year by former world champion Jackie and his son, Paul. It is the only team sponsored by a country, Malaysia, and has developed supplementary sponsors with business interests in the region.
- BRITAIN risked damaging a showpiece industry employing more than 50,000 people if Formula One was thrown into turmoil by the loss of tobacco sponsorship. The most successful cars, the best engines, the top designers and the best mechanics all come from Britain, whose domination of world motor sport is almost embarrassing.
- THE syndicate responsible for the proposed flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings said last night that the prospect of the tobacco sponsorship ban not being applied to motor racing did not bring its public offering any closer. Tobacco advertising is worth £100m a year to the racing teams.
- The British government's decision to allow tobacco advertising in Formula One racing . . . seems to have made more enemies than friends. . . The European Commission, the executive branch of the 15-member European Union, said the move was a severe setback to a proposed EU-wide ban on tobacco advertising in all sporting events. The FIA has said it would move its lucrative races out of Europe if the ban goes through. . . Formula One is central to the tobacco industry because it has a great appeal to teenagers: it is glamorous, has heroic drivers and fast cars. We are very depressed indeed."
- LABOUR is to recruit super-models and pop stars, likely to include members of the Spice Girls, to kickstart the Government's stalled anti-smoking crusade. The move by Tessa Jowell . . . comes as friends said that she had been forced to carry the can in last week's row over Formula One tobacco sponsorship. Tony Blair is said to have personally insisted that the Department of Health exempt Formula One racing from the ban on sponsorship by tobacco companies after intensive lobbying by senior figures within the sport. Miss Jowell is to call a meeting of women whom she regards as role models for young people to ask them to back the Government's drive to cut smoking among teenagers - especially teenage girls, among whom the habit is increasing faster than in any other group.
- David Ward, special adviser to the late John Smith when he was Leader of the Opposition, is now European director-general of the FIA, the world governing body of motor racing. He was present at a meeting in Downing Street between Tony Blair and representatives of the sport. Downing Street confirmed last night that Mr Ward accompanied Max Mosley, president of the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone, head of the Formula One Constructors' Association, to the meeting which is thought to have been central to Mr Blair's change of heart on the policy.
- CONTROVERSY over the Government's decision to exempt Formula One motor racing from a ban on tobacco sponsorship intensified yesterday after Lord Nolan called for an inquiry into the financial interests of the immediate family members of Government ministers. The outgoing chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life urged his successor, Sir Patrick Neill, to review the Whitehall rules governing potential conflicts of interests between ministers and their spouses. His suggestion is certain to be taken up by the committee and could result in recommendations to establish a separate register for husbands' and wives' financial interests. . . Downing Street issued a warning that the media might be liable to libel proceedings for claiming that a minister could be unduly influenced by a spouse's employers.
- Tim Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said: "We understand and fully accept the Government's position on tobacco sponsorship, although we do need time to secure alternative sponsors as cricket moves forward into the 21st century." . . Cricket will continue with Benson and Hedges's sponsorship of their limited-overs competition next year. But Lamb added: "It is more likely that we will seek to link up with new product categories in the longer term."
- Downing Street yesterday threw its weight behind Tessa Jowell, the public health minister, following criticism of her role leading a government review of tobacco sponsorship in sport while her husband had business links to Formula One motor racing. The prime minister's press secretary said it was "offensive to say" that Ms Jowell was "incapable of exercising her judgment as a minister properly" as a result of her husband's work for a Formula One company, Benetton Formula.
- The European Commission may be forced to formally withdraw the eight year old proposal to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship Europe-wide, the Commissioner responsible has warned. Commissioner Padraig Flynn's shock announcement follows the U.K. government's revelation that it will not vote in favor of the Commission's draft directive if it includes a ban on sponsorship of Formula One motor racing.
- The essential point of cigarette advertising is not to win customers but to confirm existing smokers in their choice of brand and to encourage other smokers to switch from other brands. This is a project on which tobacco companies are prepared to spend millions of pounds annually, and even anti-smokers should be grateful that they do so. For in Sweden, where cigarette advertising is banned, cigarette manufacturers suddenly found themselves with more money, because they weren't spending it on advertising any more. And because they had more money, they were able to drop the price of cigarettes. As a result, in the wake of the advertising ban, the consumption of cigarettes increased. The continued investment of tobacco companies in sport should be one of those rare issues over which smokers, non-smokers and anti-smokers can unite.
- A trouser leg has been lifted. Tony Blair, the prime minister, has shown us his government's Achilles heel. Its mantra is hard choices. It prefers soft options. . . We all saw Mr Blair blink. This is a disturbing harbinger. Lobbyists and interest groups well beyond the Grand Prix circuits will take the lesson.
- Britain's ruling Labour party, in a swift U-turn aimed at defusing accusations of political sleaze, said on Monday it would return a controversial donation from the man who runs Formula One motor racing.
- Max Mosley, chairman of the Federation International d'Automobile, is a member of Labour's Thousand Club, qualification for which entails contributing at least £1,000 a year. Mr Mosley was part of the delegation of senior motor racing figures who met Tony Blair at Downing Street last month to argue that the sport should to be exempt from any ban. But Labour rejected any suggestion that the Government might have been improperly influenced. "It is utterly unacceptable to suggest that there is any link between any money that anyone may have given to the Labour Party and any decision that the Government has taken in the national interest," a spokesman said.
- So maybe this is what Tony Blair meant by the Giving Age: you give us the money, we'll give you the policy. Sounds harsh, but the latest revelations about motor racing, cigarettes and the Government make it hard to draw any other conclusion.
- Those who have chastised us for not being brave enough on this issue should ask themselves whether it is brave to take a decision that looks superficially strong but actually makes matters worse.
- This is not about smoking. This is about Tony Blair and how he makes decisions. The argument about whether cigarette company sponsorship of racing cars encourages people to smoke is far from clear cut. . .
- TONY Blair was under pressure last night to reveal if the Labour Party has received money from Bernie Ecclestone, the man behind Britain's Formula One racing industry. The Telegraph has been told that Mr Ecclestone, who in the past is believed to have given cash to the Tories, has switched his backing to Labour. Claims circulating in Westminster suggested that he could have paid money into the "blind trust" funding Mr Blair's office in opposition--which would not show up in Labour's accounts.
- BERNIE Ecclestone's plan to float Formula One Holdings faces a bumpy ride from the European Commission, sources in Brussels said yesterday. Mr Ecclestone, the driving force behind the racing championships, has said that a deal to give the teams the equity and board representation that they have been demanding will smooth the path for the much-postponed £1.6 billion flotation. He also needs exemption from EU competition rules that govern cartels and companies enjoying a dominant position. A major stumbling block is the 25-year exclusive broadcasting rights to market the sport conferred on Formula One Holdings by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
- TONY Blair last night announced a fundamental review of political party funding in the wake of the row over Labour's £1 million donation from Bernie Ecclestone . . The options to be considered will include the state funding of parties as well as new rules requiring the full disclosure of all major donors and the amount they have given. . . Labour has promised to return the money, though it will have to mount a fundraising or cost-cutting exercise at its headquarters as the party is £4.5 million in debt after the election.
- The government last night signalled it could introduce state funding for political campaigning as the Labour party admitted it would have to make cuts to repay a £1m donation to Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One. Aides of Tony Blair, the prime minister, said he would give Sir Patrick Neill, parliament's new ethics watchdog, a "very wide remit" to look at political financing. This included the use of taxpayers' money.
- Plans for a new technology "hub" for the world motor sport industry at Silverstone are threatened by the row over Formula One tobacco industry sponsorship and cuts in roadbuilding. Silverstone, the 400-acre British grand prix venue in Northants operated by the British Racing Drivers Club, has just won planning permission for a hotel and conference centre complex as part of the new technology venture.
- THE admission by Bernie Ecclestone yesterday that he gave Labour £1 million in January places him in pole position among backers of the people's party. . . These kinds of gifts, unheard of back in the early 1980s when Labour was still at odds with the bosses, are no rich men's whims. They represent the fruits of a concerted attempt by Tony Blair and his lieutenants to widen his party's appeal and to recruit support and cash from some of Britain's most dynamic entrepreneurs.
- A TOP-TO-BOTTOM reform of the way Britain's political parties are funded was promised by the Government last night as it struggled to wipe away the taint of sleaze surrounding its decision to exempt motor racing from any tobacco advertising ban.
- Over the weekend and on Monday, his lawyers denied that he had given any money to the Labour Party. There was no waffle. On Monday afternoon John Reynolds, of Ecclestone's solicitors, Herbert Smith, told The Times: "A statement at the weekend denying my client gave money to the Labour Party still stands." Moments later, however, came Ecclestone's extraordinary contradiction: "In January 1997, I was asked by a colleague to make a contribution to New Labour which I did." A slip of the tongue? Hardly. A touch of amnesia? Possibly, although if I had written Tony Blair a cheque for a million pounds 10 months ago, I think I would remember it.
- WHEN Tony Blair first shook hands with Bernie Ecclestone he was the latest in a long line to benefit from the Formula One supremo's Midas touch. For Labour it was a million-pound handshake. For Mr Ecclestone, soon to be a billionaire from the flotation of his racing empire, it was small change. . . His primacy in the sport is due to the universal recognition that he dragged it into the modern era of multimillion-pound television deals, sponsorship and corporate hospitality, with his close ally Max Mosley, a lawyer and son of Sir Oswald Mosley. His dominance can be attributed to an intricate web of deals that give him effective control of not just the television rights to the sport, but the corporate and merchandising rights and circuit fees.
- On Monday, Labor said it had returned the donation -- describing the amount as being more than $8,500 -- which was made in January by Bernie Ecclestone, president of the Formula One Constructors' Association. But on Tuesday, the party revised its statement, admitting that the actual figure was $1.7 million.
- Britain's governing Labor Party acknowledged Tuesday it received $1.7 million from the head of Formula One racing, now exempted from a ban on tobacco advertising. The announcement was the latest move in a controversy that has become a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Tony Blair, accused by critics of caving into big party donors and of dumping a key election pledge.
- Britain's controversial move to exempt Formula One automobile racing from a proposed ban on sports sponsorship by tobacco companies has badly embarrassed the Blair government, and revved up debate on the close links between tobacco and the prestigious Grand Prix circuit. The government's decision, announced last week, has sparked a furious political row in the U.K., and has damped hopes of reaching agreement this year on a European Union-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship. It has also lifted the curtain on ties between Formula One, the government and the tobacco industry.
- THE Labour Party was ordered last night by the new public standards watchdog to return a £1.5 million donation from the head of Formula One racing. The decision to give back the money from Bernie Ecclestone, president of the Formula One Association, followed 72 hours of pressure on the party to confirm its financial links with the industry after grand prix were excluded last week from the Government's ban on tobacco sponsorship.
- TONY Blair sought to head off accusations of Labour sleaze last night by returning a substantial donation to party funds from Bernie Ecclestone, vice-president of the Formula One Association. The amount of the donation, given before the general election, was not disclosed. But officials said that it was more than £5,000 and would have been registered in the party's accounts next year.
- Sir Patrick may be right that no rules have been broken. But this merely shows the inadequacy of the rules. Not only the names of party donors but the amounts of their donations should be disclosed. . . Mr Ecclestone has both won his way and got his money back. He must be delighted.
- The Formula One row may be only a temporary embarrassment but Tony Blair and his advisers should learn the lessons if they want to live up to their pre-election claims of fighting "sleaze".
- The draft directive would, therefore, accelerate the trend towards non-EU events. But these events would still be televised globally and be seen throughout the EU. The FIA believes the proposed draft directive will fail to meet its own objectives. We are willing, however, to assist in achieving a reduction in tobacco sponsorship of Formula One. The FIA could do this by means of its own regulations. These apply to all Formula One events throughout the world, something which could not be achieved by an EU directive alone.
- Formula One motor racing could be included in the Europe-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship after all, but with a 10-year exemption to allow the industry to find other sponsors, it emerged last night. As controversy raged about alleged F1 donations to the Labour party, Downing Street moved to distance Tony Blair from accusations that last week's decision to exempt the sport had been influenced by the involvement of Labour supporters who had contributed to party funds.
- Britain plans to phase out tobacco sponsorship of Formula One racing after 10 years, a move designed to placate Europe's highest governmental authority. . . The EU is seeking to ban tobacco advertising when its 15 health ministers meet Dec. 4. . . The Guardian newspaper reported Monday that Britain's government was now considering a 10-year phase out. Nolan said the European commission would accept a compromise. Some have suggested 4 1/2 years.
- "If we're talking about a time limit on any derogation, it's a much better position than last week," said Barbara Nolan, spokeswoman for Social Affairs Commissioner Padraig Flynn. But she warned that other countries in the 15-member EU bloc might protest at the 10-year delay, when other sports face an end to tobacco sponsorship after four and a half years.
- The damaging revelations came a day after Blair sought to calm the funding scandal, the first big setback for his six-month-old government, by calling for reform of the way parties finance their business. But his efforts came to naught with a new twist in an affair that, at best, suggests naivety by Labor and, at worst, points to a political system that can be bought by big business.
- TONY Blair's attempts to defuse the crisis over the decision to exempt motor racing from the tobacco advertising ban suffered a setback last night when other sports demanded equal treatment. During rowdy question time exchanges in the Commons, Mr Blair conceded that he would meet representatives of other sports seeking concessions similar to those granted to Formula One. . . But the most wounding assault on Mr Blair was mounted by Martin Bell, the independent MP . . . "Have we slain one dragon only to have another take its place with a red rose in its mouth?" he asked Mr Blair to loud Tory cheers
- 11/13/97 Labour Rejected Second Gift The Guardian
- The Formula One chief, Bernie Ecclestone, offered Labour a second donation after the general election, senior party sources confirmed last night. The offer, which Labour officials said was "certainly not another £1 million", was rejected after consulation with Sir Patrick Neill, the public standards watchdog.
- TONY BLAIR has failed to declare that he received free tickets to last year's British Grand Prix from a leading figure in Formula One racing. The Prime Minister and his wife, Cherie, were guests at Silverstone of Max Mosley, the president of the Fédération Internationale de Automobile (FIA), who is at the centre of the controversy over the tobacco advertising ban. Senior party sources last night denied that there was any obligation on Mr Blair to register the interest because he had gone in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition.
- Ms Jowell decided to be very angry indeed. This is one of the oldest tricks in the rhetorical grab bag: when caught bang to rights, sound as if the charges against you are so monstrous, so grotesque, that you have been driven to the very edge of your reason. Usually it doesn't work. Yesterday it did. . . " ...the Tory Party have used smear and innuendo as a way of masking the complete failure of their policies to stop children smoking!" And with that majestically Orwellian piece of evasion, she sat down, triumphant.
- Publish the source and size of party donations
- It should apply the same skill to ethics as it does to technology
- As Tony Blair has explained, "the Giving Age" began on May 1. Yesterday Opposition MPs wondered why for Bernie Ecclestone, the Giving Age began rather earlier. Mr Blair, for whom the Giving Back age begins, had to reply.
- Formula One is fighting for its interests. It's time the Government fought for ours.
- Almost inadvertently, the prime minister has stumbled into one of the most vexed issues in any country - how to finance political parties. Yesterday, Tony Blair signalled that his government is likely to push through the most significant reform of political funding in the UK for more than 100 years.
- A new Formula One motor racing team, backed by cigarette maker B.A.T Industries Plc, is to be launched in London next month. The new team, which industry sources believe will involve the British racing car-maker Reynard, will announce its plans at a news conference on December 2. "I cannot confirm any details at this stage but we expect to be in a position to do so on December 2," said BAT spokesman David Bacon. "Yes, there is a BAT involvement."
- Britain's Tyrrell Formula One motor racing team confirmed on Thursday it was in talks with potential sponsors, but would not say whether one of them was cigarette maker B.A.T Industries Plc (BATS.L). "We have nothing firm to say but certainly discussions are taking place," said David Windsor, spokesman for the Tyrrell team.
- BAT Industries, the world's second largest tobacco company, is to buy the Tyrell Formula One motor racing team as part of a £300m, five-year venture to promote its Lucky Strike and State Express 555 cigarette brands.
- 11/12/97 BAT to Buy FORMULA ONE Racing Team Reuters
- British tobacco giant B.A.T. Industries is set to buy the Tyrell Formula One motor racing team as part of a 300 million pound($510.9 million) five-year venture to promote its cigarette brands, the Financial Times said on Thursday.
- KEN Tyrrell, the chairman of the Tyrrell Formula One motor racing team, last night denied that he was poised to sell his team to a consortium supported by tobacco giant BAT. Tyrrell, the oldest competing team chief in the Formula One pit lane, rejected reports in the latest edition of Marketing magazine that he had agreed to sell his team to BAT for £30m.
- Not only was the car the same color as the cigarette packs: "The words "Bitten & Hisses' on the side of the vehicle were in the same style of lettering as "Benson & Hedges,' " complained Action on Smoking and Health, a British anti-smoking group. "They were obviously designed to fool TV viewers into thinking that they had seen the sponsor's name on the car." . . In the mid '80s, tobacco companies agreed to voluntary limits on advertising in the United Kingdom. . . The voluntary ban was flagrantly violated in July at the British Grand Prix, ASH charged . . "Bitten & Hisses" was clearly meant to symbolize Benson & Hedges. Marlboro's red and white chevron was clearly visible on a Ferrari. Rothmans -- another British brand -- had "Racing" written on its car in the same blue color and distinctive lettering it uses on its cigarette packages.
- The Labour government's problems over "sleaze" deepened last night after it emerged that it was admonished by the new ethics watchdog for discussing a donation from the head of Formula One, the grand prix motor racing organisation, while amending policy on tobacco sponsorship.
- TONY Blair knew that the Labour Party was negotiating over future donations from Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One, when they met at No 10 to discuss exempting the sport from the ban on tobacco sponsorship, Downing Street admitted yesterday. The disclosure raised fresh questions over the links between Labour and Mr Ecclestone and dashed Government hopes that it could draw a line under the most serious crisis faced by Mr Blair since he became Prime Minister.
- Bernie Ecclestone says in a letter to The Times today that the advice to the Government from Sir Patrick Neill to pay back the money is a "gross, insulting and irrational" restriction of his freedom.
- "I would like the opportunity to point out to the Government that snooker could be more seriously affected by any ban on tobacco sponsorship than Formula One motor racing, who have been made a special case," said McKenzie.
- Mr Blair clearly believes that he took the right decision, but he needs to realise that proper procedures have to be seen to be followed. The casualness and informality of Opposition is no longer good enough. The smoothness of the summer transition was deceptive. The inexperience of the Blair team has been exposed. Mr Blair and his advisers have a lot to learn about how to conduct themselves in government.
- I made a donation to the Labour Party because I believe Mr Blair to be a person of exceptional ability who, if free to act, would do an outstanding job for our country. This, I thought, depended on independence from old-fashioned vested interests in the labour movement. . . until these reforms are in place, I should enjoy the same rights as eve ryone else. These include the right to make donations to any political party I choose. Anything less implies that I have done something wrong and is a gross, insulting and irrational restriction of my freedom.
- Five years ago we published a compelling summary of all current evidence showing the influence of tobacco adverts on children. One study showed that children as young as six associated cigarettes with fast cars and motor racing. . . The tobacco industry must recruit half a million new smokers each year in Europe to replace the same number who die from their product. By allowing the industry to sponsor Formula One, the Government is helping them achieve that objective.
- The link, which will exacerbate bthe row over tobacco sponsorship, has been made by a team of Cancer Research Campaign scientists led by Anne Charlton at Manchester University. The survey, published in The Lancet, is based on a study of 1,063 boys across the country, aged 12 to 13.
- oys who are big motor racing fans are twice as likely to become regular smokers, proving that tobacco sponsorship encourages the habit, a cancer charity said on Thursday. The Cancer Research Campaign, which funded a study of 1,063 boys aged 12-14 found nearly 13 percent who named motor racing as their favourite sport on television became regular smokers, compared to just seven percent who did not like the sport. The racing fans were also twice as likely to remember the names of the leading Formula One sponsors -- Marlboro and Camel.
- While six of the nine Grand Prix racing teams are already heavily sponsored by tobacco companies, B.A.T would be the first cigarette manufacturer to own a team in the highly popular sport, which has a wide television audience, particularly in Asia.
- A NEW Formula One team, involving the Bicester-based manufacturer Reynard and backed by British American Tobacco, the world's second biggest tobacco company, will be launched next month. Two simultaneous events - the arrival of anonymous invitations to a mysterious news conference and a double-page advertisement for Formula One jobs with an anonymous team in the weekly Autosport magazine - confirmed the worst-kept secret in motor sport yesterday.
- Ministers ran for cover yesterday as the government's handling of the Grand Prix tobacco sponsorship affair came under renewed fire from Brussels, Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One promoter, and Sir Patrick Neill, the public standards watchdog. As new revelations threatened to swamp the government, ministers decided the best policy was to say nothing and to steer clear of public engagements and media appearances.
- THE Government's embarrassment over the Formula One deal deepened yesterday after Labour admitted that party fund-raisers actively sought extra donations from the head of the industry, while ministers were negotiating an exemption from the tobacco sponsorship ban. The request had been part of an attempt to help to clear the multi-million pound overdraft incurred during the election campaign. Downing Street also admitted that in a timetable of events it had published earlier this week it had left out the fact that the Prime Minister's office had written to Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, the day after Prime Minister Tony Blair met Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One, to discuss the ban, asking him to search for a compromise for motor racing. These fresh twists in the controversy were wrung out of the party following a denial from Mr Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, that he had offered a second donation after the general election.
- THE absence yesterday of the public health minister from an anti-smoking event, entitled the Quitter of the Year awards, appeared to highlight the scale of the Government's embarrassment over the so-called "cash for ash" row. While there was a genuine reason for Ms Jowells's absence, it came at the end of a week in which Labour ministers have repeatedly ducked requests for interviews on tobacco sponsorship and in which broadcasters have become increasingly testy, on air, about the Government's refusal to discuss the issue.
- The one thing which people did not expect of Britain's Labour government was that it would need lessons in public relations. But its bungled handling of l'affaire Bernie tore off the government's presentational armour. It also revealed something unexpectedly vulnerable beneath, and raised nagging questions about the style and competence of Tony Blair's government.
- You might have thought that Forumla One would feel rather ashamed of being the last refuge of the corporate scoundrel, providing succour to an industry which is responsible for the deaths of millions. Not a bit of it. Formula One claims that tobacco advertising has no effect on cigarette sales (sic). And in the event of a ban, it has threatened to shift Formula One to East Asia. So much for its concern about safety. . . Ecclestone paid the party of government (whatever its colours) in order to keep it sweet on tobacco exemption. Cheap at the price, too, given that the tobacco industry puts a cool £100 million into the F1 coffers every year. This is seedy stuff.
- British corruption is going to the dogs. In the good old days, corporate executives contributed their shareholders' money to a political party, lit a cigar and waited. In due course they were rewarded with a knighthood or a seat in the House of Lords. . . Ban tobacco advertising at motor races in one country and it will pop up in another. . . If you want to reduce the consumption of nicotine, it might be more effective to pile yet further taxes on cigarettes. . . The above paragraph is, rather, a distorted version of the explanation given by the British government for its inability to ban all tobacco advertising at once. The real lesson is that neither British nor American politicians can do their jobs without proper attention to cash flow. My modest proposal is to privatise and regulate the process
- Sir, After the controversy surrounding Bernie Ecclestone's donation of one million pounds to the Labour Party and the leniency shown by the International Automobile Federation to Michael Schumacher's "instinctive" ramming of a rival, I am very surprised that decent law-abiding tobacco companies want any association with Formula One motor racing.
- Senior ministers are worried the EU's plans to outlaw tobacco advertising and sponsorship will be wrecked by Britain's insistence that F1 should be allowed to receive backing from the tobacco industry indefinitely. Ministers are now preparing the ground for a climbdown under which F1 would be given longer than the three years allowed for other sports to phase out tobacco sponsorship.
- He promised to publish the notes from his crucial meeting with Mr Ecclestone on October 16, but he said there was no need for a public inquiry into the affair. Mr Blair related the sequence of events and said that Government policy had never been changed under pressure from Mr Ecclestone. He said he was "furious at the suggestions". "I had absolutely no intention of changing the policy for Bernie Ecclestone - and at that point (October 16) I hadn't decided the route we were to go down." Mr Blair said the decision to exempt Formula One from tobacco sponsorship was taken two weeks later. It was in response to fears that Britain might lose the industry overseas to Asian countries who were bidding for it.
- It reflects Mr Blair's fears that the events of the past few days have tarnished his reputation for openness and integrity among many Labour voters. He will say that the row has given the Government its worst week since it came to power and has prompted him to rip up his party's rules on fund-raising.
- TONY BLAIR will admit today that the government mishandled the sleaze allegations over the £1m donation to the Labour party by the boss of Formula One. In a high-risk strategy, the prime minister agreed yesterday to be interviewed live about the Bernie Ecclestone affair by John Humphrys on BBC1's On the Record programme today. Blair hopes his rare full-length interview will finally draw a line under what he will admit has been "Labour's worst week" since its general election victory in May. He hopes his appearance will prevent the row harming the voters' trust in him personally.
- Sir Patrick Neill last night rejected the demand from Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone that Labour should be allowed to keep the £1 million donation he made to party funds before the row erupted over tobacco sponsorship. The chairman of the Public Standards Committee told colleagues that he would consider Mr Ecclestone's appeal, but there could be no question of reversing the advice he gave to Tony Blair a week ago
- Elected on a promise of bringing openness and honesty to politics, new Labour, after a week of embarrassing revelations, now stands exposed as evasive and hypocritical. How did Tony Blair come to this?
- Officials already are debating whether they want a more American-style system, or one that goes even further in using public funds to underwrite the activities of the parties. Labor Party officials have raised the idea of public financing -- attractive to them because they believe it would end the Conservative Party's traditional advantage in fund-raising -- but it is not clear whether Blair really wants to ask for such a significant change.
- Mr Branson, who Labour has been keen to get on side because of his successful and respected image, has been advising the Government on alternative forms of sports sponsorship. He was reported to have said he would contact Mr Blair's office about the Formula One tobacco sponsorship exemption "to urge that they stick by their election promise". "I have always said that cigarette advertising should be banned, and I have always said that sponsorship by tobacco companies is immoral," Mr Branson was quoted as saying.
- JOWELL SUMMONED BY WATCHDOG OVER SMOKING BAN The Government is expected to come under pressure from MPs to hold a high-profile Commons debate on plans for a tobacco advertising ban just when it might have hoped the row had faded. A powerful Commons European watchdog has summoned Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell to explain how she plans to handle negotiations with Britain's EU partners over a Europe-wide ban at a key meeting next month. She needs clearance from the Commons European Legislation Committee before she can officially agree a deal over the EU directive on tobacco advertising in Brussels on December 4.
- The Tory Party accused the Prime Minister of "diversionary tactics" in his handling of the Formula One affair by demanding an overhaul of the party funding system. John Maples, the shadow spokesman for health, said Tony Blair had left many questions unanswered and had deliberately misled the public over motor racing chief Bernie Ecclestone's second possible donation to the party.
- THIS is the full text of notes by Tony Blair's Private Secretary on the Prime Minister's meeting with Bernie Ecclestone at 10 Downing Street on October 16, 1997.
- RICHARD BRANSON, who last week publicly criticised Tony Blair's decision to exclude Formula One from the tobacco sponsorship ban, is being recommended for a knighthood by William Hague. The move has surprised Mr Branson.
- "I honestly did what I thought was the best for the country," Mr. Blair explained, adding that he was "worried" about the possible impact of a ban on the sport.
- Facing widespread criticism over a campaign donor who won an exemption on tobacco advertising, Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted Sunday he made the right decision but apologized for mishandling the controversy. "I would never, ever do something wrong or improper or change a policy because someone supported or donated to the Labor Party," he said in a BBC Television interview. "I didn't in this case."
- He noted that, in the wider scheme of things, the future of Formula One was a modest issue. That is true but it does not make it irrelevant. The Profumo affair, Westlands and "cash for questions" were not at the centre of British public policy either.
- I do not believe that Mr Blair's decision was influenced by the £1 million donation from Bernie Ecclestone. The Prime Minister's account of how policy was made was convincing, even if ministers have been naive in accepting at face value the warnings about Formula One shifting overseas and the grossly inflated estimates of the impact on employment.
- Even his supporters may have felt they had just watched a man different in many ways from the Tony Blair who first took over the Labour Party. He seemed to have lost authority. His plea that we trust him carried the echo of a husband accused of infidelity, assuring his wife she is l ooking at the same man as the one who proposed to her and carried her over the threshold; nothing has changed. But of course, everything has. These melancholy exchanges do take place, once the honeymoon is over.
- Strenuous efforts were being made by Britain last night to find a face-saving compromise with the European Commission and other member states over its aim to exempt Formula One motor racing from a European Union-wide tobacco sponsorship ban. While opposition parties continued to hound the government over the details of donations from Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, British officials met EU counterparts to draft a common position ahead of a meeting of health ministers on December 4.
- A full Commons debate on the proposed tobacco advertising ban is a possibility following a decision by the Parliamentary European Legislation Committee. The committee wants to summon the Public Health Minister, Ms Tessa Jowell, to explain the British Government's negotiations with the EU about the proposals.
- British officials in Brussels yesterday began the search for a face-saving EU compromise in the tobacco sponsorship row over Formula One racing as Labour tried to shift the political focus at Westminster towards reform of party funding. . . Mr Blair's public health minister, Tessa Jowell, is formally committed to seeking an outright exemption for Formula One racing, for fear that the British-led industry will move to Asia. But the prospect persists that the eventual deal will simply exempt it for at least five years, allowing time to find new sponsors.
- Health Secretary Frank Dobson rejected suggestions that he disagreed with Tony Blair's policy of offering Formula One an exemption from the proposed ban on tobacco sponsorship of sport
- John Maples, the Opposition spokesman for health, said Tony Blair had left many questions unanswered and had deliberately misled the public over motor racing chief Bernie Ecclestone's second possible donation to the Labour party.
- "It's not an issue about party political funding. There is nothing wrong with individuals or companies giving money to parties if they like their policies or they like their principles. What would be wrong is if a party came to Government and then was prepared to change its policies or its principles in order to say thankyou for donations or to receive new ones."
- TESSA JOWELL faces interrogation tomorrow from a Commons watchdog over the Government's decision to exempt Formula One from the European Union's tobacco sponsorship ban. MPs on the European Legislation Committee intend to question the Public Health Minister on Britain's position on the EU directive before deciding whether the issue should be debated in the Commons.
- THE Prime Minister was accused yesterday of inconsistencies in the television interview he gave on Sunday to try to dampen the row over the Formula One affair (Philip Webster writes).
- TONY BLAIR will begin the process of raising money to pay back Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million donation when he addresses Labour's wealthiest supporters at a £250-a-head gala lunch next month. Mr Blair and his wife, Cherie, have agreed to attend the Labour Friends of Israel annual lunch on December 9. Senior Cabinet ministers including Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, will be present.
- First, the Government sent out confused signals over the implications of a ban on tobacco sponsorship for sport. The first contacts between 10 Downing Street and the Health Department were on May 6, a mere four days after Mr Blair became Prime Minister. But the two were not always on the same wavelength. This maximised the impression of a big shift in policy when the exemption of Formula One was announced.
- SMOKING costs the health service up to £1.7 billion a year, Tessa Jowell said yesterday. . . "These figures show why we need tough action at both a domestic and European level to bring down rates of smoking, especially among the young," she said. "A government White Paper, produced next year, will spell out a comprehensive range of measures. At the European level, an EU Directive is being negotiated which will end tobacco advertising."
- Health Minister Tessa Jowell spelt out the cost of smoking to the health service. The announcement of the bill for treating people with smoking-related diseases - estimated at between £1.4 and £1.7 billion a year - follows days of controversy about the Government's approach to tobacco advertising. The move is seen as an attempt to smooth over recent problems and show ministers' commitment to cut smoking in Britain.
- Conservatives threw down the gauntlet to Health Secretary Frank Dobson, challenging him to deny charges that Tony Blair forced him into a U-turn over Formula One and tobacco company sponsorship. Shadow Health Secretary John Maples wrote to Mr Dobson after he side-stepped a series of direct questions about whether he backed the Prime Minister's preference for an exemption from a ban for the motor sport.
- In an article in the Times yesterday, Mr. Blair summed up that "If there is one lesson to be learnt from this episode, it is that the current rules [on funding] don't work." That's right, blame the system.
- TESSA JOWELL has been summoned to a Commons hearing next week after failing to satisfy a committee of MPs yesterday on why the Government is backing the exemption of Formula One from a tobacco sponsorship ban. . . The decision came after Ms Jowell admitted that the Government did not know what proportion of Formula One's income was dependent on tobacco sponsorship and confirmed that health ministers had not met representatives from other sports.
- The Public Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, risked infuriating the anti-smoking lobby last night when she surprised MPs by insisting Formula One's exemption from the ban on tobacco advertising in sport will be permanent. Government sources later said this was a negotiating position for a European Union meeting on December 5 and that the Government might eventually settle for a compromise exempting Formula One for 10 years. . . Ms Jowell, being grilled by MPs on the Commons select committee on European legislation, was asked if the ban had a time limit. Her reply was definite: "Our submission is for a permanent exemption for Formula One."
- Her comments angered some committee members, who complained that Formula One was receiving special treatment because other sports would have only four-and-a-half years to comply with the ban under the terms of a proposed EU directive. The EU, too, reacted angrily, saying the insistence on a permanent exemption for Formula One risked the whole European ban.
- THE husband of Tessa Jowell, the public health minister at the centre of the Formula One controversy, has further links to motor racing, which have so far not been disclosed. Although David Mills, a lawyer with the City firm Withers, severed his connection with Benetton Formula after Labour's victory, he is still a director of TWR Group Ltd, which makes and races high-performance cars. Its chairman and managing director, Tom Walkinshaw, is owner of the Arrows Formula One team for which Damon Hill drove and which is based at the firm's headquarters in Leathfield, Oxfordshire. The Telegraph has learned that Mr Mills was appointed a non-executive director in April, though he has not been paid. Mr Walkinshaw insisted last night there was no conflict of interest between Mr Mills's directorship and the Government's difficulties over the decision to exempt Formula One from a tobacco sponsorship ban. "The truth has to be dragged from them like rotting teeth," said shadow spokesman Iain Duncan-Smith.
- LABOUR has still not repaid Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million, despite being advised to do so more than a week ago, Tony Blair admitted in the Commons yesterday. During rowdy exchanges, Mr Blair at first said Labour had returned the donation to Mr Ecclestone, the head of Formula One. But challenged by William Hague, the Conservative leader, he acknowledged that the repayment had not yet been made.
- Mr Hague's first attempt at an armlock was silly. Blair said Labour had "returned" Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million. Hague asked when. Funds would be transferred within days, said Blair. To Tory sniggers, Hague snorted that it has only taken a few minutes for "returned" to be rephrased " will be returned".
- In a frank assessment of the row that has given ministers their worst moments since the election, the Minister without Portfolio confessed that the Government had not acted openly but had concealed and stalled. His remarks came on the day that Tony Blair and William Hague clashed in their angriest Commons exchange, with the Tory leader accusing Mr Blair of spinning a "shabby tale of evasion" after the Prime Minister admitted that Labour had not yet paid back its £1 million donation to Bernie Ecclestone.
- He should certainly not use the events of the last fortnight as a justification for pre-empting the conclusions of Sir Patrick's review of party funding. The Prime Minister's enlistment of Paddy Ashdown in an effort to lay down the law now is an attempt to dispel the odour of the past fortnight with sanctity.
- The Government has betrayed the health of the nation and needs to "get back on track" over tobacco sponsorship of Formula One in order to prevent children being seduced into a fatal addiction, it was claimed yesterday by a coalition of 83 medical and welfare charities.
- The Prime Minister will meet representatives of the main sports affected by the ban on Tuesday. He will insist that darts, snooker, angling, ice hockey, cricket and rugby will have to comply with the restriction. Jim McKenzie, chief executive of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, wrote to Mr Blair yesterday to complain . . . "I do not wish to question the Government's resolve to introduce a ban on tobacco sponsorship of sport. My concern is that snooker is given sufficient time to put alternative revenue streams in place, at least equivalent to that proposed for Formula One."
- The announcement of Mr Earl's donation comes after Labour decided to return a £1 million donation from Formula One chief Bernie Bernie Ecclestone, leaving a huge hole in their finances. The party acted on the advice of standards watchdog Sir Patrick Neill, who Labour consulted after the Government announced Formula One was to be exempted from a tobacco sponsorship ban. This week, Mr Blair said Mr Ecclestone's donation would be returned within a few days and tonight a Conservative spokesman commented: "Presumably, Mr Earl will be making his cheque out to Bernie Ecclestone."
- European Union Health Commissioner Padraig Flynn said Britain's insistence on exempting Formula One racing from any ban on tobacco sponsorship in sports was impossible. "You cannot segregate out one particular sport. The member states would not accept that," Flynn said.
- Senior Government sources are refusing to rule out new moves although Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell took a tough line when grilled by a Commons committee. It could mean a time-limit being slapped on Formula One's use of tobacco company sponsorship after all although more generous than the four-and-a-half year ban likely to be imposed on all other sports. In another development, the committee that questioned Ms Jowell insisted she reappear before another committee just two days before she hopes to strike a deal in Brussels which will ban tobacco advertising across Europe except at point of sale and, if Britain gets its way, on Formula One race tracks.
- This evidence examines: 1.The case (in brief) for banning tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, including in Formula One. Banning tobacco advertising could avoid 5,000 premature deaths per year in the UK. 2.The Government's case for an exemption for Formula One tobacco advertising and sponsorship - a concern that the sport will leave Europe and that more tobacco advertising would result. 3.Flaws in the Government's case for this exemption.
- Richard Branson, the Virgin chief and unofficial adviser to the Government on alternative sponsorship, yesterday gave the clearest hint so far that ministers will climb down over an issue that has caused them more trouble than any other since the general election. . . . "Ten years would be a bit long. I think a compromise of something like seven years would be something that most people would be happy to go along with." He said that the time limit should apply to all sports. Mr Branson said the Government had been mistaken in its claim that there was a risk to the jobs of 50,000 workers in Formula One.
- On the BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Branson said that all sports should be treated equally. He said the Government's plan to allow "rich" sports, like motor racing, to accept tobacco sponsorship puts "poor" sports, like snooker and cricket, at a disadvantage. Motor racing should not get special treatment"If for instance, you leave Formula One being allowed to take tobacco advertising, they would then have a monopoly on tobacco advertising," Mr Branson said. "The tobacco advertisers would pour billions, even more billions, into their sports."
- The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has offered to introduce its own binding rules reducing Formula One tobacco sponsorship worldwide. Unlike an EU ban, this would actually reduce the amount of tobacco sponsorship shown on television. In return, we seek only the right for each EU government to allow a tobacco-sponsored sporting event of national importance on its territory.
- Possibly by pure coincidence, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ecclestone m eet, and Blair reverses the decision made by his health ministers to ban tobacco ads on racing. . . . There's more, but you get the idea. . . the money, the attitude, the behind-the-scenes soap opera and the absence of many competitive teams -- all that leaves the vast majority of the U.S. racing fan base indifferent about the world's premiere motorsport series. F1 doesn't need the U.S. And vice versa.
- Rugby League supremo Maurice Lindsay said the sports were not fighting the Government's principles but added that it would be hard to find new funds in a congested market. He told reporters: "The Prime Minister understood our difficulties. It was an excellent meeting and we're confident of a good response. We discussed Formula One but that is a separate issue. "We put forward our case and the Government will help us replace tobacco sponsorship. That's all that's needed."
- The Prime Minister has promised sports bodies that the Government will take a "hands-on approach" to helping them find alternatives to tobacco sponsorship once the proposed EU-wide ban takes effect. In a 45-minute meeting with representatives of sports including snooker, golf, ice hockey, darts and angling, he told them why the Government felt Formula One motor racing had a special case for exemption from the proposed tobacco advertising ban.
- The Prime Minister was meeting sporting bodies and health organisations today to explain the Formula One exemption from a proposed wide-ranging tobacco company sports sponsorship ban.
- A leading cancer charity was cautiously looking forward to a £1 million windfall from Labour in the wake of the tobacco row. The money is Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone's donation to the party, which led to protests and accusations over the Government decision to exempt motor racing from the ban on tobacco sponsorship. Labour has offered to hand the cash back to Mr Ecclestone, but the head of Formula One Construction insists he does not want it and it was reported that the party intends giving the cash to a cancer charity if his view remains unchanged.
- THE Prime Minister will come under pressure today to extend Formula One's exemption from the tobacco sponsorship ban to all sports. Tony Blair is meeting representatives from sports including snooker, darts, cricket and rugby who have been incensed by his decision to make Formula One a special case.
- The minister at the centre of the Formula One sponsorship row defended the Government's position on tobacco advertising and disclosed that most teenagers could be banned from buying cigarettes. Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell said the Government's approach to the issue of tobacco sponsorship in sport was correct. . . Ms Jowell disclosed that ministers were considering raising the age at which teenagers could legally buy cigarettes from 16 to 18.
- Tony Blair gave left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbott a dressing-down, attacking her for airing her criticisms of the party over major donations in public, instead of raising the issue internally. The clash came at a meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee after the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP had let it be known that she would be asking for big gifts - like Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million - to be made public.
- RICHARD BRANSON will join a ministerial group to try to find alternatives to tobacco sponsorship for sports, the Prime Minister told representatives of snooker, golf, ice hockey, darts and angling yesterday. Despite Tony Blair's commitment to take a "hands-on approach" to raising other sources of money, some of the delegates could not conceal their anger when they left the 45-minute meeting.
- "The prime minister was impressed by the positive and constructive way the sports want to move away from tobacco sponsorship," Downing Street said.
- A last-minute compromise was emerging last night that could rescue a planned European Union ban on tobacco advertising, with Formula One likely to receive a long and renewable exemption from the regulations. Proposals tabled by Luxembourg, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, could allow the UK and other member states to retain tobacco sponsorship for at least six years. UK officials said the government was not revealing its negotiating hand ahead of next Thursday's crucial meeting of health ministers in Brussels.
- A BBC correspondent in Brussels says the commission's statement is a sign of frustration that Britain risks undermining what it regards as the best chance for a number of years to ban tobacco advertising throughout the European Union. Officials are meeting in Brussels today to try and resolve the conflict before the commission votes on the issue in a few days' time
- In a move which will infuriate Downing Street, David Hinchcliffe, the Labour committee chairman suggested that Tessa Jowell, the Health Minister, who has been cross-examined by both committees, did not support the decision taken by Mr Blair to seek a permanent exemption for Formula One, and was overruled. . . He said: "I believe that she's in a situation she doesn't believe in herself ... I believe that the decision is something that she wouldn't personally support if she hadn't been landed in this position. "
- TONY Blair was facing an unprecedented double challenge to his authority last night from his own back benches. More than 120 Labour MPs signed a confidential letter urging the Chancellor to delay cuts in lone parent benefits while two Labour-dominated Commons committees rejected the Government's arguments for exempting motor racing from the tobacco sports sponsorship ban. It represents the most serious sign of Labour backbench unease since the party came to power six months ago.
- hip Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell has admitted that the number of jobs lost if the Formula One Grand Prix left Europe may not be as high as has been estimated. She had previously exempted Formula One from a proposed ban on tobacco sponsorship on the grounds that 50,000 jobs were at stake. "It's vey difficult to isolate a precise number of jobs above 8,000..." She now admits that the estimated number is anywhere between 8,000 and 50,000.
- The Government is under fresh pressure to scrap plans to exempt Formula One motor racing from a proposed tobacco sponsorship ban after being mauled by two parliamentary committees. Both the health select committee and the select committee on European legislation questioned the strength of the case for permanently exempting Formula One from a ban
- 'We believe Formula One is bluffing,' said Barbara Nolan, the spokeswoman for E.U. Health Commissioner Padraig Flynn, the driving force behind the ban proposals. 'We don't believe there would be a mass exodus,' she said. Her comments came a day after Max Mosley, the head of the FIA international automobile association met with Flynn to discuss the Dec. 4 meeting. The outcome of the vote is far from clear, with Britain in a pivotal role.
- The row over tobacco advertising took a new turn last night when MPs on the Commons health select committee unanimously condemned the Government's decision to exempt Formula One from the planned tobacco sponsorship ban. In an exceptional move, MPs on the Labour-dominated committee rushed out their report hours after the Public Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, tried to defuse criticism of the Government's anti-smoking credentials by setting out plans to ban those aged under 18 from buying cigarettes.
- Tessa Jowell . . . indicated that the measures were expected to be included in a government white paper early next year, which will be accompanied by an advertising campaign. Her detailed revelations of what she called "tough measures" were seen at Westminster as an attempt to deflect attention from the damaging Formula One row and to restore the Government's credentials on smoking. She also told an all-party Commons committee that the Government wanted to see a ban on smoking in some public areas and work places.
- Cigarette advertising on TV has been banned in the UK since 1965 and across all of Europe since 1991. It would not be a great leap to extend this to tobacco advertising at televised Formula One events. This would be unlikely to mean a blackout of Formula One. It would lead to an agreement between the broadcasters and the event organisers to keep tobacco advertising off the TV screens - either by using new technologies to superimpose non-tobacco advertising or by simply not having tobacco billboards in front of every camera and everything else covered in cigarette adverts. By forcing Formula One to choose between television and tobacco, governments in Europe and elsewhere could foil the tobacco industry in its efforts to use motor racing to encourage young people to smoke.
- "In view of what the FIA have said, they will have to scrap the Belgian Grand Prix in the fairly near future," said the race's organiser Andre Maes. "The FIA are pushed by the Formula One teams which are pushed by their sponsors, the cigarette producers." . . However, one way round the ban may be to allow cars to race in their tobacco colours without any direct identification. This already occurs at the French Grand Prix, where an advertising ban has been in place since 1993, as well as at the British and German races under a voluntary agreement.
- TONY BLAIR's difficulties in winning an exemption for Formula One from a Europe-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship deepened last night when Belgium voted for a blanket ban.
- The new law allows advertising only at shops selling tobacco goods. It also bans tobacco sponsorship of cultural and sports events . . and will close specialty shops selling clothes under the brand name of cigarettes. . . Since the 1982 law took effect, the percentage of Belgians who smoke has declined from 40 percent to 30 percent.
- The Belgian parliament has approved a ban on all tobacco advertising as of January 1, 1999, and has rejected amendments allowing continued sponsorship of sports and cultural events. The law, adopted by the Senate late on Thursday, toughens existing restrictions and goes beyond plans for EU-wide legislation, which will be decided on on December 4 by health ministers from the 15 European Union nations. In a first reaction, stunned officials at the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix race track said they feared the law could kill the annual race at the Spa-Francorchamps race track.
- Belgium's parliament on Thursday approved a law banning all tobacco advertising and sponsorship that could serve as precursor for a European-wide ban, Belgian MP Louis Van Velthoven said on Friday. The approval of the law by Belgium's senate came as a surprise as it had been expected to okay an amended version allowing some exceptions such as Formula One motor racing. . . It becomes law once it is signed by the King and published in Belgium's Official Journal. The ban, due to come into effect on January 1, 1999, applies to roadside billboards, newspaper and magazine advertising.
- "It's clear that the position of FIA -- itself pushed by Formula One teams which are pushed by their sponsors, the cigarette producers -- is that when a country does not allow sponsors on its territory, teams cannot go there and FIA can only decide to cancel the grand prix," [racing organiser Andre Maes] said. The Belgian grand prix traditionally takes place in Spa-Francorchamps at the end of August and is one of the favourite tracks of most drivers.
- The prospects of the European Union agreeing a ban on tobacco advertising later this week rose on Tuesday when Britain welcomed a new compromise proposal on the issue. "We believe this is a good basis for further negotiation," Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell told a British parliamentary committee looking into the proposals.
- "There has been no change in Government policy," [JOWELL] said to Tory jeers. "This Government is going to ban tobacco advertising The temporary exemption for Formula One would help it break its dependency on tobacco sponsorship, she said.
- But the success of a seminar involving leading figures from motor racing's ruling body, the FIA, and representatives of Asian motor sport, held in the Portuguese enclave near Hong Kong, showed little will slow the momentum carrying Asia towards its first Grand Prix outside Japan. Asia's economy and culture is ready for Formula One. It represents 70 per cent of the 350 million strong global television audience for Formula One. Europe, the traditional heartland of the sport, supplies only 12 per cent.
- But Whitehall sources said she would be going to the committee armed with a new paper, setting out the costs to different sections of industry, including the billboard hoarding trade, of complying with an EU ban.
- GARETH Davis, the chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, slammed the Government's decision to exempt Formula One from the proposed ban on tobacco advertising yesterday as "unfair and anti-competitive". He was speaking after the company revealed a fall in annual profits from £366m to £307m pre-tax. Mr Davis said other sports should have similar treatment, including snooker, in which Imperial's Embassy brand sponsors the World Championships. "We are involved in other sports, which find quite a lot of difficulty in attracting advertising," he said. Among those supported by Imperial are clay pigeon shooting, angling and darts. Mr Davis also criticised the Government's idea to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 16 to 18. He said: "It goes against most other sociological trends, which are to empower people at a lower age."
- The Government is on the verge of reaching an agreement with the European Union to exempt Formula One from a ban on tobacco advertising for six years. Tessa Jowell, the Public Health Minister, will today announce a compromise which will allow the sport to receive tobacco sponsorship until at least the year 2003. She will tell a Commons committee that Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency, has tabled a compromise exempting sports organised at a "world level" from the proposed Europe-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship. The wording is specifically designed to include Formula One.
- Formula One's newest team has been launched - with the bold prediction that they will storm to victory in their debut race. British American Racing will take to the grid for the first time in 1999 . . . BAR is a joint venture between Craig Pollock, who will relinquish his role as manager of world champion Jacques Villeneuve, cigarette giant British American Tobacco and top racing car manufacturer Reynard. The team will also incorporate one of motor sport's most famous names, Tyrrell, whom they have bought out in a deal reportedly worth £18million.
- THE door to a closed shop will be wedged open with a reassuringly thick chequebook today, when a new Formula One team, built around the world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, and the global marketing strategy of the tobacco industry, is unveiled in London. It will be a discreet little affair, an anodyne chat show staged at the BBC Radio Theatre for 230 guests, flown in from five continents. It will be broadcast live, in both aural and video form, on the Internet, and will also be transmitted free of charge for television stations on five satellites.
- Formula One is set to see a new entrant with British American Tobacco (BAT) expected to formally announce in London that it will contest the championship from 1999. The tobacco giant, whose brands include Lucky Strike and 555, is set to link up with Craig Pollock, manager of current grand prix champion Jacques Villeneuve, and top racing car manufacturer Reynard. Villeneuve, who took the title after a controversial finish with Michael Schumacher in Spain in October, is expected to drive for the new team with his Williams contract ending at the end of the 1998 season.
- Tessa Jowell, the public health minister, confirmed yesterday that the Government was close to finalising an agreement with other European countries which would allow the motor racing industry to continue accepting money from cigarette companies for some years. She said the Government would no longer insist on the derogation being indefinite.
- But the confirmation that Ken Tyrrell had sold his family team to the new boys and that Jackie Stewart, the man who shot the Tyrrell name to fame, may face difficulties in keeping his own fledgeling operation active throughout next year brought a lump to many throats, particularly as Stewart launched in style last year, scored six points and operated without any cigarette advertising.
- But BAT's involvement in sport does not end there. They already own their own football club and that could prove an interesting test case when the health commissars seek to weed out the weed. BAT Sports are a very respectable non-League side. Founded 71 years ago for workers at BAT's Southampton factory, they kicked around the local leagues until a golden spell in the Eighties took them to two Hampshire League championships.
- Malcolm Oastler, a former Formula Ford driver and an honours graduate from the NSW University of Technology, has been charged with getting BAR's car ready for racing in the 1999 season.
- CRAIG Pollock, a Scot who grew up in Glasgow but now lives in rich exile in Switzerland, confirmed the worst-kept secret in Formula One yesterday. The man who is better known as the manager of world champion Jacques Villeneuve not only played his part in revealing, after all, that the new British American Racing (BAR) team was to contest the championship in 1999, but also that it had succeeded in buying out the Tyrrell family team last Friday.
- For these reasons, on behalf of the children and young people of the UK, we urge the Government to turn its back on sponsorship of Formula One motor racing, take the lead at the forthcoming EU Council of Health Ministers and secure a directive imposing a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising and promotion. At the birth of the 21st century, this would indeed be le grand prix.
- [T]he controversy and the huge investment of tobacco companies in motor racing have caused ripples on both sides of the Atlantic. It has thrown a wrinkle into a vote planned for Thursday on a Europe-wide ban on tobacco advertising. And in the United States, the issue highlights a loophole in the proposed $368.5 billion settlement reached in June between major tobacco companies and state attorneys general.
- European Union health ministers are trying to salvage a planned ban on tobacco advertising, after draft proposals had to be abandoned when Spain withdrew support. . . . Ministers have since been discussing a new set of proposals. These would allow international sports up to eight years to phase out their tobacco sponsorship and permit advertising on kiosks which sell cigarettes.
- A European Union ban on tobacco advertising, which had been expected to be approved on Thursday, has been thrown into doubt after Spain withdrew its support at the last minute. Germany, Austria, Denmark and Greece all oppose the ban, and, with Spain, they now have enough votes to block the ban.
- Spain put a spanner in the works at talks on a tobacco advertising ban. To the fury of the Brussels Commission, Spanish health minister Romay Beccaria announced that his Government had decided after all not to support measures ending all advertising and phasing out tobacco sponsorship of sport and cultural events. The move immediately increased pressure on Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell to keep Britain on board in a desperate bid to muster enough votes to push the new EU tobacco directive through by a majority. But despairing Commission officials admitted as the talks went on: "It is looking bad."
- Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell's opening bid was dismissed as unacceptable by Belgium, Italy and Holland. The maximum delay before tobacco sponsorship ends should be six years they said - with the Brussels Commission fighting an uphill struggle to get any deal at all after Spain changed sides and refused to back the proposed clampdown on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The setback for the Commission after eight years of effort to agree strict new Europe-wide curbs on tobacco promotion strengthened Miss Jowell's negotiating hand as officials were despatched this afternoon to prepare a new compromise proposal.
- "We are going to get a common position, I believe today, but of course there will be a compromise involved," Flynn, the bloc's social affairs commissioner, told BBC radio. "I think it will certainly be somewhere close to six years."
- The EU Directive would stop cigarette makers sponsoring a range of events, but individual governments could delay implementation for up to seven years.
- After weeks of wrangling, Grand Prix events are likely to be granted a six to seven year exemption when European governments meet for decisive talks on a ban today.
- The Government looks set to agree a seven-year breathing space for Formula One racing before it must drop all tobacco sponsorship in line with new European Union rules. A compromise plan on the table at talks in Brussels includes special treatment for "events and activities organised at world level". A seven-year exemption for Formula One is understood to be the "bottom line" set by EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn in his efforts to win British support for a comprehensive Europe-wide ban on all tobacco advertising - except in shops selling cigarettes - and on all forms of tobacco sponsorship.
- Three hundred people troop off Viking Line's Isabella ferry from Stockholm one snowy Sunday after a chilly six-hour crossing. But just two of the passengers are actually bound for this tiny isle in the Baltic Sea. The rest of the passengers execute a U-turn in the terminal and board a ferry for ... a six-hour trip back to Stockholm. Such trips to nowhere -- popular because they offer duty-free shopping during travel within Europe -- will end in most places come July 1999.
- [T]he controversy and the huge investment of tobacco companies in motor racing have caused ripples on both sides of the Atlantic. It has thrown a wrinkle into a vote planned for Thursday on a Europe-wide ban on tobacco advertising. And in the United States, the issue highlights a loophole in the proposed $368.5 billion settlement reached in June between major tobacco companies and state attorneys general.
- The European Union health ministers' decision to ban sport sponsorship and most forms of advertising by tobacco companies by 2006 could pose problems for Central and East European countries hoping to join the EU. As Jan Repa reports, the region has one of the highest levels of tobacco consumption in the world - and one of the highest incidences of lung cancer:
- Health lobbies, libertarians, cigarette companies and magazine publishers began Friday to draw the battle lines over a planned European ban on tobacco advertising and sports sponsorship by cigarette firms. Those most affected by the ban, which was agreed to by European Union health ministers late Thursday, argued it had little legal basis, flouted EU freedoms and smacked of cheap political point-scoring. Others who have fought long and hard for tough action against tobacco advertising on the grounds that it encourages a practice proved to be deadly hoped the move would spark a worldwide ban. "This is a fantastic victory for all organizations devoted to the struggle against illness," said Poul Ebbe Nielsen, chairman of the Danish council for smoking and health.
- "This announcement creates more problems than it solves," the Brussels arm of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM) said in a statement. "It is a blatant abuse of...the (EU) Treaty and it creates constitutional problems in a number of member states," CECCM chairman Robert Toet said. "CECCM believes that serious difficulties remain (in pushing through a final text of the deal) and it would be best if the (European) Commission withdrew its proposal in compliance with the Treaty and its principle of subsidiarity," it said.
- "The European Magazine Publishers Federation (FAEP) is extremely disappointed with the misguided decision of yesterday's European health council to ban tobacco advertising," the FAEP said in a statement. "FAEP and other European publishers will fight this unfair measure all the way," FAEP president Chris Llewellynn said. The federation said EU health ministers had ignored how disruptive a ban would be to the magazine industry and noted that countries which already have a ban on tobacco advertising do not have significantly fewer smokers. "Tobacco, like many other products, is undoubtedly dangerous," FAEP said. "However, rather than attacking the root causes of the problem, the health council has decided to follow the cheap politically expedient public measure of banning advertising for a product which is legally on sale."
- Instead, they predicted, the compromise that will allow tobacco sponsorship for Formula One motor racing until 2006 -- and press and billboard advertising for half as long -- will give tobacco companies time to find other more subtle ways to promote their product. "It's not enough and it's too long a time scale," said Prof Alex Gardner of Glasgow Caledonia University. . . "What I am forecasting is that you will not see cigarettes being advertised but shapes and colour and other potential visual identifiers," he explained.
- Tobacco manufacturers were considering mounting a legal challenge to the EU-wide advertising ban agreed in Brussels. They claim the ban might be vulnerable to challenge on the grounds that it breaches EU treaties.
- LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Formula One's top teams closed ranks on Friday and declined to make any comment on the latest European Union plans to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
- The Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers, which includes Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and British-American Tobacco, issued a statement vowing to "fight strenuously to protect the fundamental rights of its members to communicate directly with their adult consumers."
- Under the deal, reached after a day of frantic negotiations in Brussels, newspapers and magazines will be allowed to continue advertising tobacco products for the next four years. Tessa Jowell, the public health minister, described the outcome as a "very good deal for public health". She said: "We have got the protection we are seeking and the flexibility for Formula One and we are delighted." Padraig Flynn, the EU commissioner for social affairs, described it as a huge day for the health of the European Community.
- British Government officials in Brussels hailed the deal as a reprieve for Formula One for the next nine seasons.
- The European Union voted to outlaw most tobacco advertising within four years and gave cigarette makers until October 2006 to end their sponsorship of major sports and cultural events. . . . Starting next October, governments within the 15-nation trade group get 3 years to enact a ban on tobacco advertising, except at stores that sell cigarettes. EU spokeswoman Barbara Nolan said tobacco makers can also continue to advertise in printed media until October 2003 in those EU nations that still allow cigarette advertisements in newspapers and magazines. The EU measure also bans indirect advertising such as sales of apparel bearing the name of cigarette brands.
- Mark Jennings, area director Central Europe for B.A.T. (British American Tobacco), told Reuters Eastern and Central Europe lagged the EU in curbing cigarette advertising and that advertising generally had little impact on overall cigarette consumption. "I think that here, in these countries, whether you have or do not have tobacco advertising, and you can follow the figures, I would bet it doesn't have any impact whatsoever on the number of cigarettes smoked," said Jennings, whose area includes Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. "What (a ban) will have is it will make it more difficult for new products to be introduced, and since most of those new products are in the lighter segments, it will make it more difficult to shift the delivery... downward," he said.
- "I have never for one moment believed anything other than what we were doing and the way in which we were doing it was right. "I think that has been vindicated by the outcome. "We have a ban on tobacco advertising - one of the most important public health measures that we will have seen in this country to reduce the amount of needless deaths from smoking, protection for children. "And also we have met our second objective of protecting sport."
- Andre Maes told RTBF television Saturday that Ecclestone had telephoned him with the warning. "He told me we ran an enormous risk of losing our place in the international calendars from January 1, 1998, if we could not show that we were putting everything in place to try to escape this law," Maes said. "What we will try to do is persuade FIA [International Automobile Federation] to allow us a little delay by showing them all the steps we have taken by December 12," he said, adding that if he failed Belgium risked losing its F1 grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps and all other tobacco-sponsored motor racing events.
- Horst Seehofer, the Health Minister, described the ban as "bad", "unacceptable" and "contradictory", and said Bonn might start proceedings in the European Court to block it. Chancellor Kohl was said to find the ban "incomprehensible". Germany has led the political battle against the ban and yesterday attacked the "glaring contradictions" in the EU's approach, including the continued payment of massive subsidies to European tobacco farmers. Bonn also condemned the differing lengths of time before various kinds of advertising and sponsorship are to be banned, with the press receiving "much worse treatment" than Formula One racing.
- The German government yesterday threatened to take court action against the European Union's proposed ban on tobacco advertising. Chancellor Helmut Kohl branded the deal reached by ministers late on Thursday to ban tobacco advertising as "incomprehensible".
- TOBACCO manufacturers yesterday threatened legal action over the European Union agreement that will ban them from advertising.
- But they may find themselves in the company of some strange bedfellows, Fidel Castro, for one. Yes, Cuba has its hand up for a grand prix. Formula One's desperate need to go where tobacco sponsorship can be maximised may be hard to understand until people realise that of the teams on the grid this year, just two, Jackie Stewart's new outfit and Sauber (Swiss and typically neutral), didn't carry any logo of a tobacco brand. Furthermore, Asia has 70 per cent of the 350 million-strong global television audience for Formula One. Europe may have the Formula One tradition and passion, but it comprises only 12 per cent of the at-home audience. Japan's whole-hearted acceptance of Formula One is used as an example of a Formula One explosion waiting to be set off in the region. But, wait just one moment. Many of the Asian economies have crashed alarmingly in recent weeks. What might have been a terrific idea last month is unattainable today. Governments are pulling in belts. Typically, the Formula One hierarchy is teasing the Asian tigers.
- If there were any toxic substance other than tobacco causing upwards of half-a-million deaths a year, it is inconceivable that successive European Union ministers for health would have hesitated in banning its sale, never mind just its promotion. Yet the haggling over attempts to curtail tobacco advertising had gone on for almost a decade without success before a compromise agreement was cobbled together after a fraught 12-hour meeting last Friday. And by the time that this agreement results in the elimination of advertising and sponsorship by tobacco companies, a further five million Europeans will be dead from the effects of smoking tobacco, while millions more will be trapped by a lethal addiction. . . But the assessment of the Irish Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, is more realistic: it is better to have the new directive than to have none. It is still not good enough in terms of the protection of the health of Europeans, especially young Europeans.
- The German cigarette industry plans to take legal action against a European Union ban on cigarette advertising if the German government does not, a leading industry official said. "An advertising ban in a market economy is a regulatory crime," said Ludger Staby, chief executive of German cigarette maker Reemtsma and head of the German Cigarette Industry Association, in an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit released on Wednesday.
- Belgium's strict ban on tobacco advertising and sponsoring is likely to cost the country its 250cc motocross grand prix races from 1999, the national motorcycling federation (FMB/BMB) said on Tuesday. "If the government does not review its decision...we will no longer be able to organise the 250cc grand prix in Belgium from 1999," promoters Action said in a statement issued through the FMB. The warning by the Nice-based Action group came days after Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone threatened to strip Belgium of its motor racing grand prix from next year.
- "If the government does not review its decision, we will no longer be able to organize the 250cc grand prix in Belgium from 1999," promoters Action said in a statement issued through the FMB. The warning by the Nice-based Action group came days after Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone threatened to strip Belgium of its motor racing grand prix from next year.
- Cigarettes are big business in Germany . . Not only do cigarette companies represent a powerful lobby, but Bonn also depends on cigarette taxes to help pay its bills. Next to Greece, which also had reservations about the advertising ban, Germany relies on tax revenue from cigarettes more than any other European Union country. . . "The explanation is simple. Since 1982, we have had the Kohl government and it works hand-in-hand with the tobacco industry," he says.
- Just a pipe dream? Perhaps. But when the land Bismarck created starts questioning the prerogatives of the nanny state, we can't help but wonder if Europe might have a liberal future after all.
- Organisers of the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday threatened possible legal action against the International Automobile Federation (FIA) if they have the Formula One race taken from them. "If they (FIA) wants to kill automobile sport in Belgium, it pushes us to actions that are perhaps desperate. It's a strategic option that should be well weighed up," lawyer Luc Misson said.
- MONACO (Reuters) - Formula One's ruling body on Friday gave organizers of the Belgian Grand Prix until the end of December to find a way of working around a strict ban on tobacco advertising or see the race removed from the motor racing calendar. A calendar released after a meeting in Monaco of the International Automobile Federation also did not include a French grand prix.
- Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell faced Tory accusations that the Government had breached Whitehall rules while devising its tobacco advertising ban. The Government was guilty of "an abuse of office, an abuse of power" for appearing not to have carried out required consultation and cost-benefit analysis, Conservatives claimed. One Tory member of the Commons European Legislation Select Committee said the Prime Minister should be called to give evidence to the committee, on the grounds that he had "over-ruled" Ms Jowell and determined the policy that Formula One motor racing get special treatment.
- China and South Africa have been nominated as reserve races for the 1998 World Championship calendar, a warning signal from the FIA, the sport's governing body, that it is prepared to take Formula One out of Europe if a tobacco sponsorship ban is implemented by the European Union.
- COLLINGS: I see you received a gift from British American Tobacco, over there by the telephone. Given the European position on anti-tobacco legislation, how is it that they have decided to come to F1 now?
- The European Commission warned the international motor racing industry that its legal and broadcasting arrangements appear to violate European Union antitrust laws. The move . . . came in a letter to the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile . . . The FIA, which is motor racing's governing body, has three weeks to answer questions raised by the commission in its letter, according to people familiar with the case. They said the commission is especially concerned about agreements between the FIA and the Formula One Administration Ltd., a British company run by Bernie Ecclestone. These give Formula One exclusive broadcasting rights for Grand Prix racing from Jan. 1, 1997, through Dec. 31, 2010, a period considered too long by the commission.
- The circuit is one of two reserve venues - South Africa's Kyalami track is the other - for the 1998 World Championship if either Belgium or Portugal lose their races according to reports in Hong Kong. "We are ready to hold a Formula One race and the circuit is up to standard, All the facilities are ready, We are very optimistic about our chances," Joe Lim Hun-beng, a director of the Zhuhai Circuit Management Ltd, told the South China Morning Post.
- FORMULA ONE could withdraw from its 10 races in Europe unless it reaches a compromise with the European commission in the next two weeks, according to a racing executive. . . A confrontation with Karel van Miert, the European Union's competition commissioner, is likely early next year.
- The International Automobile Federation (FIA) have delayed a decision on cancelling the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix for another week. The race is under threat because of a Belgian law banning tobacco advertising. FIA spokesman Francesco Longanesi said: "After the New Year, either on January 6 or 7, we will examine a demand from the race organisers to delay the ban."
- THE Belgian Grand Prix, one of the classic Formula One races at one of the most majestic and challenging circuits in the world, is likely to be cut from the 1998 calendar today and may be replaced by an inaugural Chinese Grand Prix. This action, if confirmed by motor racing's ruling body, the FIA, would accelerate Asia's emergence as a future heartland for the sport.
- A Belgian court said on Tuesday it did not have the power to overrule a ban on tobacco advertising which threatens to scupper the Belgian Formula One motor racing Grand Prix. The pronouncement came just before the December 31 deadline that Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone had given organisers to find a way around the ban.
- LORD HESKETH, the president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which runs Silverstone, has called the European Commission "hypocritical and short-sighted" over its anti-tobacco stance.The former grand prix team leader was speaking to launch Silverstone's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham. He said the long-term effects of a tobacco advertising ban would be to decimate the multi-million pound motor sport industry in Britain, which employs more than 50,000 people.
- FORMULA One could sever its ties with tobacco advertising within four years. Max Mosley, president of the FIA, motor racing's world governing body, took the sporting world by surprise by announcing that a ban could be in place by 2002 in advance of a European Directive deadline aimed at outlawing tobacco sponsorship.
- The European Union is happy with Formula One's offer to drop tobacco sponsorship earlier than agreed upon if it can be proved that such advertising leads people to start smoking. However, the EU said Thursday that enough independent evidence already was available, so the sport should give up tobacco sponsorship as soon as current contracts expire.
- It depends on what the context is in which they're going to operate this so-called voluntary phasing out. If it is indeed dependent on a study that they're going to carry out I think we would question the credibility of that," Commission spokeswoman Barbara Nolan told reporters. "Obviously we would welcome any efforts on their part to phase out sponsorship and advertising in advance of the (2006) deadline...agreed by (European Union) ministers," Nolan said. "But...one would have to question the credibility of any study by an organisation that depends so much on tobacco sponsorship and advertising."
- "We have always said we would do this as soon as we were shown direct proof of any kind of link which showed that tobacco advertising, or sponsorship, led to people starting smoking," Mosley told a news conference. He said the FIA was prepared to act on expiry of the current Concorde Agreement, between the FIA and the teams, on December 31, 2001.
- Formula One will reject tobacco advertising, and an estimated $300 million in sponsorship, beginning in 2001 if opponents can prove a link between advertising and smoking. The president of world motor sport's governing body FIA, Max Mosley, on Thursday gave the strongest indication yet that the sport's authorities were weakening on tobacco sponsorship. Mosley said FIA was talking with the World Health Organization and governments, including Britain, to determine if a link between advertising and smoking can be proven. "FIA intends to study evidence produced by the British government, among others, and is discussing the issue with the WHO," Mosley said.
- For Ecclestone is making the earth move there as well as in Korea, China, Indonesia and Las Vegas. He wants Formula One to be truly global and, he said, this has nothing to do with the pall of tobacco smoke still hanging over 50,000 jobs in the British motorsport industry.
- Michael Schumacher drives for Ferrari, but by simple weight of badges he's the Marlboro man.
- The World Motor Sport Council . . . also endorsed FIA's hardline stand against European Union calls to outlaw tobacco advertising, which provides about $US170 million a year for F1 teams.
- In a short but hugely-embarrassing report, the Standards Committee found the Prime Minister guilty of breaking Commons' rules by failing to register the visit, which was paid for by Formula One's governing body - owned by controversial millionaire Bernie Ecclestone. "Anybody can make a mistake - even the leader of the Opposition, who is now the Prime Minister" ‹ TONY BLAIR. The affair is made more damaging by the fact that Mr Blair recently handed back a one million pound donation from Mr Ecclestone after claims the businessman had persuaded the Premier to abandon his plan to ban tobacco advertising at Formula One races.
- By any standards it was a relatively minor issue, and the MP who made the complaint, Andrew Robathan, accepted that there was no "wicked intent", but it was an unwanted and unexpected embarrassment that revived memories of the row over Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million donation to the Labour Party and the decision to exempt Formula One from a ban on tobacco sponsorship. Downing Street admitted that Mr Blair had met Mr Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, at the 1996 Grand Prix but said that "absolutely no money was discussed at all".
- Prime Minister Tony Blair should have reported a free visit to the 1996 British Grand Prix he made with his family while leader of the opposition, Parliament's standards commissioner ruled Thursday. Blair failed to register a July 1996 visit to the Silverstone racetrack with his wife and three children as guests of the Federal Internationale de l'Automobile, the governing body of Formula One racing.
- Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, could be called to give evidence to Lord Neill's anti-sleaze committee about his controversial £1 million donation to the Labour party. . . Mr Ecclestone's gift to Labour funds caused a row because it was followed by a Government decision to exempt his sport from the ban on tobacco sponsorship.
- Labour Party officials, fund-raisers and donors - including individuals, companies and trade unions - have been called to give evidence to the inquiry, which starts next month. The committee will consider the controversy over the £1 million donation made by BERNIE ECCLESTONE, the head of FORMULA ONE, who later met TONY BLAIR and secured an exemption for his sport from a proposed ban on tobacco sponsorship. It is also likely to examine the relationship between the Prime Minister and the publisher RUPERT MURDOCH, whose newspaper, the Sun, crucially swung behind Labour before the last election.
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©1996 Gene Borio, Tobacco BBS (212-982-4645).
WebPage: http://www.tobacco.org.
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