In the aftermath of the tainted blood scandal, there is no shortage of blame to go around – but some are more culpable than others. As a junior health minister from 1982 to 1985, Ken Clarke was at the heart of Whitehall as reports of the risks from blood transfusion began to be published.
According to Sir Brian Langstaff’s inquiry, by 1982 there was evidence that infections were occurring through imported blood products. The Department of Health even admitted it was ‘likely’ that HIV/Aids was transmitted through blood products. Yet still in 1983 Lord Clarke continued to say that there was ‘no conclusive proof’ of infection via this route. Sir Brian says that while this was ‘technically correct’, its use was ‘indefensible’ because:
It did not spell out the real risk. It gave false assurances, it lacked candour and, by not telling the whole truth, it was misleading.
Given this record, you might have thought Lord Clarke would be a bit contrite when it came to the issue of tainted blood and its victims. Yet the former health minister – who subsequently held many of the great departments of state – gave perhaps the most notorious witness statement before the inquiry back in 2021. Several victims accused him of showing ‘disdain’ for the inquiry when he gave evidence.
Clarke complained about what he ‘had to put up with’ because he was ‘the best-known person of all those people involved’, adding that campaigners were ‘always trying to steer [inquiries] to try to find some celebrity whose fault it was.’ At one point, he asked:
Why do we have to go through such meticulous detail through who said what when, when did he change his mind?
It is no surprise therefore that, following Langstaff’s inquiry, victims are now demanding that Clarke be stripped of his peerage – an honour that was afforded to him in 2020, despite the objections of the Haemophilia Society. Asked on the morning round about whether this should happen, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said it was one for the forfeiture committee and said Lord Clarke was ‘a decent and nice man’ who has ‘always been very polite and kind to me’.
Shame he couldn’t extend that kindness to the victims, eh?
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