JOHN REID, the Health Secretary, insisted yesterday that he was only playing devil’s advocate when he said that smoking was the only pleasure left for some poor people.

Mr Reid was criticised by anti-smoking campaigners for calling the demand for a ban on smoking in public areas “an obsession of the learned middle classes”.

But the Health Secretary, a former 60-a-day smoker, was simply trying to encourage the audience at a “Big Conversation” event to see the smoking debate from all angles, not stating government policy, a spokesman said.

ASH, the anti-smoking group, said that it was foolish to talk about smoking as a pleasure that middle-class people wanted to deny others. But Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, said: “It is very refreshing to hear a senior politician discuss smoking in such a rational, pragmatic way.”

At the Big Conversation meeting on Tuesday, participants argued strongly for a ban in public places. Mr Reid said: “Let me play devil’s advocate. What enjoyment does a 21-year-old mother of three living on a sink estate get? The only enjoyment sometimes they get is having a cigarette.”

Scottish Executive ministers, who have recently begun a consultation on banning smoking in public places such as pubs and restaurants, appeared careful not to become involved in the furore surrounding Dr Reid’s comments yesterday.

An Executive spokeswoman said ministers’ approach in Scotland was consistent with Dr Reid’s comments. She added: “We cannot deny smoking is an addiction and that there are complex reasons for maintaining the habit.”

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