IT WAS the dilemma no lobbyist could solve.

Fearing the ever-increasing dominance of the big supermarkets, the pharmacy industry — which represents thousands of high street chemists — desperately wanted a share of the £20 million emergency contraception market.

Fearing that the right-wing press would savage any campaign to make the morning- after Pill available over the counter and not only from GPs, chemists restricted their activities to a low-profile lobbying operation around Westminster.

Then in 1999 came the creation of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, funded by four pharmacy associations. It immediately announced that its first inquiry would be into over-the-counter emergency drugs.

In its report in February 2000 it concluded: “Many women seeking emergency contraception, especially younger women, feel uncomfortable at having to visit their GP [for a prescription] . . . Community pharmacists are able to offer expert advice on the use and appropriateness of emergency contraception without the need for an appointment.”

Within months the rules were changed. Howard Stoate, the Labour MP for Dartford and group chairman, later boasted that it was “no exaggeration to suggest we have helped shape policy on emergency contraception”. The report framed its argument around what was best for the patient-customer. Sceptics say that may be true, but ask why its conclusions coincided with key demands from the pharmacy lobby.

“We make the sources of our funding absolutely transparent. If people want to know you can easily find out. There are no secret deals,” Dr Stoate said.

All-party groups are required to register the names of outside organisations that provide them with benefits, which is then published on the Parliament website.

Yet the entry for the All- Party Pharmacy Group lists only Luther Pendragon, a lobbying company, as the provider of their administrative support. This would appear to be a clear breach of parliamentary rules that state: “Where a public relations agency provides the assistance, the ultimate client [of the PR company] should be named.”

Nor do any of the group’s 11 reports mention where their support comes from.

In fact the group’s sponsors are the Company Chemists Association, which represents 4,000 chain pharmacies, the National Pharmaceutical Association, which represents community pharmacies, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), which also represents community pharmacies on NHS matters, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists.

The group’s remit, registered with parliamentary clerks, is: “To raise awareness of pharmacy and pharmacists and to promote pharmacy’s current and potential contribution to the health of the nation.” A pharmacy industry lobbyist could not have dreamt of better. Luther Pendragon has worked with the group from the start.

Dr Stoate said that the group does get the lobbyist to draft the group’s reports after the group has deliberated, but is adamant that it does not overstep the mark.

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