Directorate Change

British American Tobacco PLC
24 February 2003


BOARD CHANGES

British American Tobacco announces that Dr. Ana Maria Llopis is joining the
Board  as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.  Mr. Johann Rupert
will be retiring from the Board at the end of the Annual General Meeting on 15
April 2003.   In addition, Mr. Peter Brickley, Chief Information Officer (CIO),
is resigning from  the Management Board to join Centrica as CIO with effect from
31 March.

Ana Maria Llopis was born in Venezuela, has Spanish nationality and has had a
successful career in consumer marketing, notably with Procter & Gamble, Playtex 
and Banesto.  She launched and was Chief Executive of the Open Bank (now called
Patagon), Grupo Santander's branchless bank.  She is currently Executive Vice-
President, Financial and Insurance Markets, of Indra IT Technology and since
1998 has been a Non-Executive Director of Reckitt-Benckiser, where she serves on
the Audit Committee.

Commenting on the changes, Martin Broughton, Chairman of British American
Tobacco, said: "I am delighted to welcome Ana Maria to the Board.  As well as
her background in consumer marketing, she will be able to add a Spanish and
Latin American perspective to the range of our Non-Executive Directors'
experience.  I would also like to thank Johann Rupert very much for the
contribution he has made to the Board since the merger with Rothmans in 1999. 
Our merger has been a great success by any measure and I am grateful for all his
continuing support as our largest shareholder."





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