Mal Fletcher comments on the need for politicians to behave in more statesmen-like ways; thinking not just of the next election but of the next generation.

Mal Fletcher

'The difference between a politician and a statesman,' said James Freeman Clarke, 'is that a politician thinks of the next election, while a statesman thinks of the next generation.'

Last week, ministers within the British government announced that they'd decided not to legislate for plain packaging for tobacco products. The legislation had long been promised in an effort to discourage young people from taking up smoking.

In Great Britain, 10 million adults smoke cigarettes, representing 21 percent of men and 19 percent of women. Two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18. This is according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a health charity established by the Royal College of Physicians.

The same groups says that smoking causes around 80 percent of deaths from lung cancer and approximately 80 percent of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema. Meanwhile, 17 percent of deaths from heart disease are linked to smoking as are more than a quarter of cancer deaths.

The Australian government was the first to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. It maintains that it is too early to tell exactly how many lives will be saved as a result - that may take another three or more years.

Yet one thing is certain: when the idea was first mooted in Australia it received widespread support - as it did in the UK. Now, however, the British government is back pedalling and there appears to be no good reason why.

Today, it has emerged that a London-based lobbying consultancy has been advising Philip Morris Ltd, the world's largest tobacco company, on how to argue against such moves.

Normally, there would be nothing particularly newsworthy in this. Lobby companies can advise whomever they wish in an open market. However this particular company, CTF, is run by the Conservative Party's chief election strategist Lynton Crosby.

This is the man paid a large retainer by the Conservative Party to help them win the next election. Although Mr Crosby is retained by the Tory Party, not the government, there is surely a conflict of interest for him here.

Downing Street has admitted that he attends meetings there and at least a percentage of these must surely involve questions of policy. Crosby has already advised David Cameron to ditch policies that are marginal in their appeal. Questions will be asked as to whether the legislation on tobacco packaging might be one of these.

There will also be questions about David Cameron's judgement in appointing close advisers.

The Prime Minister still faces nagging queries about the 2010 appointment of Andy Coulson as his director of communications and, at the time, his highest paid special advisor. Mr Coulson faces criminal charges relating to phone hacking during his tenure as editor of the now defunct News of the World newspaper.

Ours is the age of professional politics, where MPs are often groomed for office almost from the time they leave university - if not before. As fresh young graduates they take up jobs as researchers with political think tanks or as dogs-bodies working for older MPs.

Few of today's top-level MPs have any appreciable professional experience outside the world of politics. Indeed, some have hardly ventured much beyond the bubble of Westminster itself, except perhaps to run for election and to maintain the appearance of local representation.