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A Tory MP heaped praise on the e-cigarette industry at PMQs today - but didn't mention he'd been treated to a lavish day out by a global vaping giant.

Conservative Mark Pawsey enjoyed more than £1,600 worth of hospitality at a Rugby World Cup match in September, with Japan Tobacco International (JTI) picking up the tab.

JTI is the sole owner of E-Lites, one of the leading brands of e-cigarette in the UK.

Mr Pawsey asked David Cameron to join him in raising awareness of the claimed health benefits of e-cigarettes.

He cited a report by Public Health England, which said 'vaping' was 95% safer than smoking tobacco.

Then he asked the Prime Minister to join him "in highlighting the role that e-cigarettes can play in helping people to give up tobacco for good."

Mr Pawsey logged the costly gift on the Register of Members' Interests, but failed to declare it to the House of Commons ahead of his question.

Mark Pawsey said: “As the MP for the town where the game began, it was a great honour to be the Parliamentary Ambassador for the Rugby World Cup this year.

"I was fortunate to be invited to attend a match during the tournament and I have declared it transparently on the Parliamentary website.”

But Commons rules state Members must declare any "relevant pecuniary interest or benefit of whatever nature" verbally before asking questions in the House.

Labour's Anna Turley MP said: “Mark Pawsey needs to explain why he chose not to declare these relevant interests when asking his question.

"Parliament urgently needs to rebuild trust with the public and incidents like this make that job all the more difficult.”

At PMQs, the Prime Minister said: "I think we do need to be guided by the experts, we should look at the report from Public Health England.

"But it is promising to see more than a million are estimated to have used e-cigarettes to help them quit or have replaced smoking with e-cigarettes completely.

"So I think we should be making clear that this is a very legitimate path for many people to improve their health and therefore the health of the nation."

(Image: www.markpawsey.org)

He also said he had himself struggled to give up smoking - and hinted he might still have the odd crafty cigarette on occasion.

The Rugby MP has become a strong advocate for the e-cigarette industry within Parliament in recent years.

In November 2014 he set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on e-cigarettes.

Mr Pawsey's group has received more than £3,000 in funding from ABZED, a communications company whose website boasts that they represent three clients in the e-cigarette sector.

Ian Gregory, the named contact on the ABZED website, is also listed as a press contact for E-Lites, the vaping brand owned by JTI

(Image: Getty)

There is already a long-standing Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, which frequently discusses vaping.

In a post on his website, he said his new group would "examine new legislation" coming forward that might affect the usage of vaping devices.

He said: "I believe that stricter regulation is required to ensure that all e-cigarette devices, products and liquids are safe but I do not support regulating the industry out of existence.

"In the last year many of my constituents have contacted me to say that without e-cigarettes they would not have been able to give up smoking so I think more work must be done in order to establish what role they can play in helping more people quit using tobacco."