On a webchat with the Sun yesterday, Boris Johnson said he “would have an online referendum in London about whether to give boroughs back the power to give discretion over smoking to pubs and clubs.” This would go against the national ban on smoking introduced last year, and which has to date proved pretty popular.

However, I can’t help wondering if his position is related to £5,000 to £10,000 he received from the Association of Tobacco people for giving one of his witty speeches.

Johnson was one of the Tory MPs who voted against the ban in parliament and he signed the following pretty choice letter to the Times in 2004.

Sir, We would like to raise our voices against calls to ban smoking in pubs, clubs and restaurants (report, September 24). Claims that the US hospitality industry is doing better since the New York ban was introduced are based on the recovery of the whole city economy since 9/11, and by including everything from McDonald’s to liquor stores. But in bars and clubs the ban is widely hated.

According to a new independent survey of its first year, it has also cost 2,650 jobs, $50 million in earnings and $71.5 million to related businesses. Claims that the Irish ban is a success after six months are equally dubious, considering that anyone defying it faces fines of €3,000 or three months in prison.

Many people believe that the dangers of smoking and passive smoking are currently being exaggerated to the point of hysteria. The risks of passive smoke have never been proven beyond meaningless levels in a small minority of studies; wildly varying “estimates” of hundreds or thousands of deaths are based not on body counts but statistical projections.

To smoke, to associate with smokers, or to operate a venue in which smoking is allowed should all be matters for individual choice, not state coercion. Smoking is legal, and in pubs and clubs it’s fanatical smoke-haters who are the minority. Nevertheless the hospitality industry is making great progress in voluntarily providing better air-cleaning systems and more choice.

We call on both government and the media to de-escalate the tension on this issue and let common sense and the free market decide the future of British social life.

Boris must at least be applauded for his dedication to his financial benefactors.

editor[at]recessmonkey.com