About Simon
Simon Clark is director of the smokers' lobby group Forest and founder of The Free Society.
Born in London and educated at Madras College, St Andrews (1970-1976), and Aberdeen University (1976-1980), he returned to London for his first job - in public relations.
In 1983 he launched a national student magazine; in 1984 he worked, briefly, for a Frankfurt-based human rights group; and from 1985-1990 he was director of the Media Monitoring Unit, a London-based research group founded by Lord Chalfont (a former Labour minister) and Dr Julian Lewis (now Conservative MP for New Forest West).
As a freelance journalist, Simon has edited a string of in-house magazines, the most recent of which was The Politico for Politico's Bookshop in Westminster.
Simon has been director of Forest since January 1999. He is Forest’s principal spokesman and is responsible for campaigns, policies and the overall philosophy and direction of the group.