Labour ministers are once again reaching for the regulatory sledgehammer, this time targeting one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished luxury trades: the handmade cigar business.
Under new plans being considered by Health Secretary Yvette Cooper, premium cigars could soon be forced into the same plain, cigarette-style packaging already imposed on mass-market tobacco, stripped of the artwork, branding, and craftsmanship that has defined the industry for centuries.
According to reporting by The Telegraph, the proposals are being pursued under powers granted through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, legislation that received royal assent in April and was originally designed to phase out smoking among future generations by banning tobacco sales to anyone born after January 1, 2009. Critics, however, argue Labour is now stretching that mandate well beyond its original purpose, applying it retroactively to a long-established, legitimate sector that caters overwhelmingly to older, discerning customers rather than the young people the legislation was meant to protect.
Churchill’s Grandson Weighs In
Perhaps the most striking rebuke has come from within Sir Winston Churchill’s own family. Lord Soames, Churchill’s grandson, did not mince words, calling the plans “absurd” and “idiotic.” He noted that his family, including his late mother, Mary Soames, had been loyal customers of James J. Fox, the historic St James’s cigar merchant, for generations, and that his mother in particular “did not like the nanny state.”
As for his grandfather, Lord Soames was direct: while he could not say precisely what Churchill would think today, given he “has been dead for more than 60 years,” he was confident that the wartime prime minister, a lifelong cigar devotee, would have “violently disapproved” of any such change to the packaging he so treasured.
He was joined in his criticism by Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, who told The Telegraph he opposed the plans outright, declaring, “I loathe these modern-day puritans.”
An Industry Warns of Collapse
The backlash extends well beyond politics and into the businesses that would bear the brunt of the policy. James J. Fox, the 140-year-old St James’s institution once patronised by Churchill himself, has emerged as a leading voice against the plans. Its director, Daniel Freeman, warned that the shop would become “unprofitable” from the day the rules take effect, since the cost of repackaging imported cigars would fall on British retailers and make premium products commercially unviable.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Eddie Sahakian of Davidoff of London, another storied St James’s tobacconist founded by his father in 1980, was similarly blunt, warning that the changes would leave him with “no business to pass on” to his children and that it would be “game over” for the trade in Britain. He also raised the prospect of significant financial loss, noting that his stock of rare vintage cigars, some worth a small fortune in their original packaging, could be rendered effectively worthless if forced into generic wrapping.
Jemma Freeman, chairman of Hunters & Frankau, the UK’s exclusive distributor for Cuba’s Habanos S.A. brands, went further still, predicting the policy would produce “a total wipe-out” of the industry within three to five years, echoing the fate of cigar sectors in Canada and Australia after similar rules were introduced there.
There are also warnings that scrapping branded packaging would make it considerably harder to distinguish authentic cigars from counterfeits, with one Mayfair retailer suggesting the change would hand a significant advantage to forgers.
The Cost to Britain
Beyond the shopfronts of St James’s, opponents argue the policy carries a wider economic cost. Cigar sales already generate roughly £160 million a year in tobacco duty alone, and industry figures say the true value to the economy, once tourism, hospitality, and associated spending are factored in, runs many multiples higher. American cigar connoisseur Kirby Allison told The Telegraph that London risked losing its status as one of the world’s premier cigar marketplaces entirely, warning that the capital would become “one less reason for people to travel to Britain and spend their money there.”
Lord Johnson of Lainston added that specialist tobacconists function as genuine tourist draws in their own right, and that driving them off the high street could paradoxically leave more room for the vape shops Labour claims to want gone.
Labour’s Response
For its part, the Department of Health and Social Care has defended the consultation, with a spokesman stating that the government is examining plain packaging for all tobacco products as part of a wider effort to tackle what it calls the country’s leading cause of preventable death, disability, and ill health. The department insists tobacconists have been invited to take part in the consultation and that their views will be considered before any final decision is made.
Critics, however, remain unconvinced, arguing that Labour would do better to focus its energy on the NHS’s more pressing crises rather than pursuing what shadow minister Mike Wood MP called “pure nanny statism,” aimed at a small, law-abiding slice of the population that poses no discernible threat to Britain’s youth.
Worth reading in full: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/cigars-extinction-under-fresh-labour-attack/
