Patrick Basham

Patrick Basham is the founding director of the London and Washington based think tank the Democracy Institute which was set up in 2006. He was also the founding director of the Social Affairs Center at Canada’s Fraser Institute, and he is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute’s Center for Representative Government.

Basham worked with the Fraser Institute in a campaign against public health regulation on tobacco. Basham has close links to the tobacco industry. Basham has co-authored a number of research papers with John Luik, who has been accused of working as a tobacco lobbyist; Luik also does work for the Democracy Institute.

Patrick Basham Bio, Fraser Institute

Education

Patrick Basham Bio, Battle of Ideas 2007

Patrick Basham was an undergraduate student in the mid 1980s, according to his foreword to Christopher Snowdon's book The Spirit Level Delusion, Basham describes the experience:

'For me, personally, Wilkinson and Pickett’s thesis (The Spirit Level) brings back vividly unpleasant memories of an undergraduate year in the mid-1980s that I spent, in part, being taught about socio-economic matters by my sociology tutor, a newly-minted Marxist feminist PhD. She had little tolerance for my ‘tax cutting equals economic growth equals more employment’ economic model, which she termed, ‘An ungodly synthesis of the worst of Reaganism and Thatcherism’ (which I thought oddly religious rhetoric for such a fanatical atheist). ‘On the contrary, Patrick,’ she would inform me, ‘you need to get over your fixation with economic growth. Rather than putting all our effort behind growing the economic pie, we should instead limit the pie to its current size, and then focus our energies on the issue of how we shall divide it up. There it was: Eighties-style socialist fundamentalism in a nutshell. Two sentences that encapsulated the British Labour Party’s economic thinking at the height of the Left’s control of the party and at the nadir of the party’s electoral relevance. Fortunately, I thought at the time, and for some time afterwards, such thinking has had its day. But I was wrong'.

Basham has claimed to have a PhD from University of Cambridge on the subject of 'British and American political marketing', however records show that he registered for a PhD at Cambridge in 1995, submitted a thesis to the Degree Committee in 2004 which was examined that year by Jennifer Lees Marshment (then at the University of Keele), returned to Basham for revision and never seen again. Cambridge confirms that Basham was 'withdrawn on 8 July 2009 without qualification'. The British Medical Journal have written to Basham 'on a number of occasions inviting him to clarify his claim to have a PhD, so far without response.'

Tobacco work

Patrick Basham's name appears in a range of internal tobacco industry documents. In 1999 Patrick Basham argued that the Fraser Institute was interested in the issue of tobacco regulation to defend people's right 'to trade longevity knowingly for pleasure'.

A letter from Sherry Stein of the Fraser Institute to British American Tobacco in July 2000, praises Basham's work in promoting research that argues against regulating the tobacco industry more stringently. The letter argues that:

Patrick Basham, who you met in London, has done several radio interviews and was delighted and surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to this study. The focus seems to be that smokers were cutting back and quitting on their own accord and government regulations such as smoking bans in public places, prohibition on tobacco ads, higher tobacco taxes, and warnings on packages had little to do with dropping smoking rates in Canada.

In 1999 Basham commented on a press release regarding the publication of a book which attempted to play down the link between second-hand smoke and cancer. Basham argued that:

'Given the current move among Canadian municipalities, such as Victoria, to enact stringent anti-smoking bylaws, we need to look carefully at what science, not conjecture, is really telling us about the dangers of second-hand smoke'.

Patrick Basham met with Adrian Payne from British American Tobacco in 2000 and following the meeting the Fraser Institute wrote to the tobacco giant asking for $50,000 worth of funding for Basham's Social Affairs Centre. They also asked for an additional $50,000 to set up a 'Centre for Studies in Risk and Regulation'. Such a centre was needed, they argued, because:

Agitators for a "zero-risk" society have become increasingly successful in advancing their cause, often basing their case on exaggerated junk science scares.

In a blog posts on tobacco by Basham and John Luik no competing interests were declared. In another blog post on 'snus' tobacco, Basham stated that 'he had "no competing interests with any of the snus manufacturers"'. This has had doubt cast on it due to the Democracy Institute, the think tank to which Basham and Luik are affiliated, not being transparent about its sources of funding. The phrase 'any of the snus manufacturers' is also unclear as 'all the major tobacco companies (including Japan Tobacco International, Imperial, BAT and Philip Morris) are involved in the snus market'. Basham also does not declare that he or the Democracy Institute have previously been the recipient of funding from Imperial Tobacco and that he was the founding director of the Social Affairs Centre of the Fraser Institute which has received funding from Rothmans International and Philip Morris.

BMJ article

In January 2008 Basham and John Luik had an article titled 'Is the obesity epidemic exaggerated? Yes' published in the British Medical Journal. In 2015 Spinwatch's David Miller had a reply to the two men's article published by the journal, where he highlighted some irregularities with their past and called for greater transparency on their funding and outside interests.

Affiliations

Fraser Institute | Cato Institute | Democracy Institute | Spiked | Social Affairs Unit | The Free Society

Publications

Books

• John Luik, Patrick Basham & Gio Gori, Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade, Social Affairs Unit, 1 December 2006.
• Kumi Harischandra, Daniel Mitchell, Patrick Basham, Milagros Palacios, Alvin Rabushka, Francois Vaillancourt, Niels Veldhuis & Jason Clemens, The Impact and Cost of Taxation in Canada, The Fraser Institute, 2008.
• Patrick Basham, Butt Out! How Philip Morris Burned Ted Kennedy, the FDA & the Anti-Tobacco Movement, Democracy Institute, 12 April 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, Gambling A Healthy Bet, Democracy Institute, 31 January 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, The Plain Truth: Does Packaging Influence Smoking?, Democracy Institute, 14 March 2012.

Popular press, magazines articles and web publications

2001

• Patrick Basham, ‘Introduction: 
Re-evaluating the “War on Drugs”’ in Basham, P. (ed) Sensible Solutions to the Urban Drug Problem, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: The Fraser Institute, April 2001.
• Patrick Basham, 'Assessing the term limits experiment, California and beyond', The Cato Institute, 31 August 2001.

2002

• Patrick Basham, 'Does clean money make for competitive elections?: The failure of Maine's experiment with taxpayer financing of campaigns', Cato Institute (Policy analysis), 2002.
• Patrick Basham, 'This is reform?: Predicting the impact of the new campaign financing regulations', Cato Institute, 20 November 2002.

2003

• Patrick Basham, 'Defining democracy down: Explaining the campaign to repeal term limits', Cato Institute, 30 September 2003.

2006

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Four big, fat myths', Sunday Telegraph, 28 November 2006.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Separating Trans Fat from Fiction', News World Communications, 24 December 2006.

2007

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Is dieting good for you?', Spiked, 22 March 2007.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Flabby claims about food and cancer', Spiked, 7 November 2007.

2008

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Censorship built on junk arguments', Spiked, 19 March 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Take away the junk or we take away your kids', Spiked, 27 March 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A plastic ban for dummies', Spiked, 17 April 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A lesson for Britain’s obesity hysterics', Spiked, 14 May 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Body Mass Index: a big fat lie', Spiked, 28 May 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The perils of being big in Japan', Spiked, 18 June 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The fag end of advocacy research', Spiked, 3 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Cigarettes and celluloid: a dubious link', Spiked, 21 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The state-sanctioned bullying of fat kids', Spiked, 30 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'It’s official: you can be fat and fit', Spiked, 3 September 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Putting the government’s ignorance on display', Spiked, 11 December 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A year of myths about smoking and obesity', Spiked, 23 December 2008.

2009

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Change4Life: change we can’t believe in', Spiked, 7 January 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Why the government can’t ‘cure’ obesity', Spiked, 4 February 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Four fat myths about obesity and cancer', Spiked, 26 February 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Women keep drinking', Spiked, 3 March 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A display of ignorance over youth smoking', Spiked, 29 April 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'Keep FDA away from tobacco', Orange County Register, 3 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham and John Luik, 'Kicking the soda can: Hard truths about a soft drink tax', Democracy Institute, 3 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'The unholy alliance between Philip Morris & the FDA', Democracy Institute, 5 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Smoke gets in the government’s eyes', Spiked, 23 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Turning fat people into social outcasts', Spiked, 30 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Banning alcohol ads won’t cure alcoholism', Spiked, 21 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'On discrimination against fat African-American women', Democracy Institute, 29 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A fat doctor in the White House?', Democracy Institute, 29 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'Displaying the truth about policymaking', Spiked, 13 August 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'Afghanistan's Democratic Debacle', Cato Institute, 21 August 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'The Senator and the Symbol', National Review Online, 28 August 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, DI Report, 'Alcohol Advertising Bans', Democracy Institute, September 20 September 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The City That Never Smokes', Spiked, 26 October 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Can the UK Avert a Smoking Irish Failure?', Cato Institute, 29 October 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, Are Public Smoking Bans Necessary?, Democracy Institute, 17 December 2009.
• Patrick Basham, 'Butt Out! How Philip Morris Burned Ted Kennedy, the FDA & the Anti-Tobacco Movement', Democracy Institute, 12 April 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'In Defense of Santa', TownHall.com, 24 December 2009.

2010

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, The myth of an ‘obesity tsunami’, Spiked, 19 January 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'President Obama’s Fork in the Road', Democracy Institute, 25 January 2010.
• Patrick Basham and John Luik, 'A bleary-eyed attitude to alcohol research', Spiked, 2 February 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Sri Lanka needs carrot, not stick', The Guardian, 12 February 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Despite its shortcomings, scrapping Sri Lanka's trade benefits would only impede its progress toward', Democracy Institute, 12 February 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Patrick Basham in The Times of London on Obama's smoking habit', The Times (registration site), 4 March 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Under the Counter & Over the Border - How the Government Inflames the Illicit Cigarette Trade' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 18 March 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'From the Nanny State to the Bully State', Democracy Institute, 29 March 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Patrick Basham and John Luik on the food addiction myth', Democracy Institute, 6 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Russia’s War on Drugs is identical to its American and British counterparts: it’s a failure', Democracy Institute, 7 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Why Britain's election matters... to America' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 21 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Let’s put cancerous myths to bed', Spiked, 28 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Working class are under attack from health paternalism', The Guardian, 29 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The war on working class culture' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 4 May 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'UK General Election - Campaign Report Card' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 5 May 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'A Canadian Lesson for a Conservative Minority Government', Democracy Institute, 15 July 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Five-a-day won’t keep the doctor away', Spiked, 13 May 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Canada's ruinous tobacco display ban: economic and public health lessons' (pdf), IEA Discussion Paper No.29, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1 July 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'The Economic Path to World Cup Success' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 6 July 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Pssst! Wanna boost kids’ smoking? Have a display ban!', Democracy Institute, 15 July 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'More than the sum of our BMIs', Philly.com, 2 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham, David Cameron Misread UK Public on BP-Libya 'Deal, Democracy Institute, 2 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'A Kenyan Yes vote should be met with cautious pessimism', Democracy Institute, 7 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Does Australia's 'Seinfeld Election' Matter?' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 20 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Chewing the fat' (pdf) - Comment in the Sunday Times, 22 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'Are nudging and shoving good for public health?' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 16 September 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A Happy Meal ban is nothing to smile about', Spiked, 9 November 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A public display of BMA ignorance', Spiked, 23 November 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Treating people like lab rats', Spiked, 6 December 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'An Unhealthy Nudge', Institute of Economic Affairs, 9 December 2010.
• Patrick Basham, 'The feds' fat factory', New York post, 14 December 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, '10 ways Christmas is good for your health' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 23 December 2010.

2011

• Patrick Basham, ‘The Dean Martin of Congressional Politics’ Demonstrates Old-Fashioned Virtues, National Review Online, 5 January 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'An Egyptian Revolution = Reform's Death Knell', Democracy Institute, 3 February 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Tobacco Display Bans: A Global Failure,Economic Affairs', Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 96–102, March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The social benefits of gambling', Economic Affairs, Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 9–13, March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Healthcare for all! Unless you’re fat', Spiked, 3 March 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Tobacco Display Bans: A Global Failure', Institute of Economic Affairs, 6 March 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Enemies of enterprise seek controls on tobacco', The Telegraph, 9 March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'How the war on obesity went pear-shaped', Spiked, 15 March 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Gehen, wenn es am schönsten ist', The European, 26 March 2011. (German language)
• Patrick Basham and Jamie Dettmer, 'Royal wedding: the sponsorship deal of the century goes begging', The Guardian, 28 April 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Public consultation on plain packaging of Tobacco Products', Submission to the Department of Health and Ageing Government of Australia, Democracy Institute, June 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Term Limits: A Reform that Works', Our Generation, 9 June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Plain packaging for consumer products and the implications for trademark rights', Washington Legal Foundation, 16 June 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Is there happiness without risk?', CalvinAyre.com, 29 June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Tobacco’s Graphic Warning for the Gambling Industry', CalvinAyre.com, 15 July 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Plain packaging policy disguised as science, but where's the proof?', The Australian, 13 August 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Are we safer today than on 9/11?', Democracy Institute, 6 September 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'New normal of intrusion', The Hill, 8 September 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'David Cameron’s unpalatable nannying', Spiked, 11 October 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Colonel Gaddafi's death may be bad news for the Libyan revolution', Democracy Institute, 20 October 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Plain packaging will not stop young people smoking' (registration required), Financial Times, 24 November 2011.
• Patrick Basham, 'Let the Boss Decide What to Do', New York Times, 29 November 2011.

2012

• Patrick Basham, 'Public Health’s Inconvenient Truths', CalvinAyre.com, 14 January 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Health Warnings on Consumer Products: Why Scarier Is Not Better', Washington Legal Foundation, 26 January 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The Plain Truth - Does Packaging Influence Smoking?', Democracy Institute, 14 March 2012.
• Patrick Basham, Monkey see, monkey smoke?', Spiked, 24 April 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John C. Luik, 'Prescription for conflict: why the alliance between the pharmaceutical industry and the anti-tobacco movement is not in the best interests of smokers', Economic Affairs, Volume 32, Issue 2, pages 41–46, June 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Why the plain packaging consultation is deeply flawed', Institute of Economic Affairs, 9 July 2012.

2013

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, Turning fat into a four-letter word, Spiked, 5 August 2013.
• Patrick Basham, 'Romania: The Importance of Foreign Investment', The Huffington Post, 11 November 2013.

Resource

• David Miller and Steven Harkins Re: Is the obesity epidemic exaggerated? Yes British Medical Journal, 16 April 2015.