Tim Evans

Dr Tim Evans is Professor of Business and Political Economy at Middlesex University London.¹ In 2017 he was also Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), and Chairman of the Economic Policy Centre (EPC).¹ Both are British libertarian think tanks, with the former having received tobacco industry funding.² Evans has strongly opposed UK tobacco control regulations.

Background

Evans is the former Director of Development of the Stockholm Network, a collection of pan-European think tanks.³
From 2002 to 2005, Evans was President and Director-General of now defunct Brussels-based think tank Centre for the New Europe.⁴ The think tank focused on EU issues and was dissolved in 2009.⁵
Before joining the Brussels-based think tank, Evans was employed as Executive Director of Public Affairs at the Independent Healthcare Association in London, from 1993 to early 2002.⁴ The organisation, which represented the interests of the independent UK healthcare sector, seized to exist in 2004 when it merged with English Care.⁶
Prior to his appointment with the Independent Healthcare Association, Evans briefly worked as Chief Economic and Political Advisor to Jan Carnogursky, then the Slovak Prime Minister.⁴
In the late 1980s, Evans worked as Press Officer and Senior Policy Consultant at the ASI.⁴
Evans also previously worked with The Foundation for Defence Studies (now defunct), Global Health Futures (also defunct), and Westminster Associate (defunct).⁷

Affiliations

According to Evans’ profile on the ASI website⁴, Evans is also CEO of the Cobden Centre, Chairman of Global Health Futures Ltd, Managing Director of Farsight SPI Ltd, and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Evans was also on the Advisory Board of Nurses for Reform, which is run by his wife, Dr Helen Evans. ⁸
Evans was President of the Libertarian Alliance from 2006 until he resigned in February 2011 citing ‘a need to rebalance his business and personal interests’.⁷ In 2014 he still retained 49 per cent shareholding in the Alliance.⁷

Against Display Bans and Plain Packaging

In March 2011, Evans (in his capacity as chairman of the EPC) was one of 11 signatories of a Letter to the Editor to the Daily Telegraph attacking the Government’s position on tobacco control and arguing against further restrictions including plain tobacco packaging, and the point at sale display ban.⁹
Other signatories included:⁹

• Matthew Sinclair, The TaxPayers’ Alliance;
• Eamonn Butler, ASI;
• Donna Edmunds, Progressive Vision;
• Helen Evans, wife of Tim Evans, and Director of Nurses for Reform;
• Daniel Hamilton, Big Brother Watch;
• Angela Harbutt, Liberal Vision and later manager of the Hands Off Our Packs campaign;
• Tim Knox, {Centre for Policy Studies;
• Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs; and
• Simon Richards, The Freedom Association.

In the letter, the authors argued that the proposed tobacco regulations did not match the government’s promise to ‘defeat the enemies of enterprise’. They further argued that the regulations would make life more difficult for tobacconists and newsagents, and would make it easier for illicit tobacco to be sold. No evidence was given to support their claims.
This letter is a classic example of the tobacco industry’s third party techniques, which is further explained on our page Arguments and Language.

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Libertarians
• Adam Smith Institute
• Economic Policy Centre
• Arguments and Language
• Third Party Techniques
• Plain Packaging
• Display Ban