WITCH HUNT
‘Being called a charlatan
TOP Tory Sir Graham Brady has demanded that scientists are able to speak “freely and without facing a witch hunt” after reports that those questioning the handling of the pandemic have been silenced.
“Very eminent scientists” who disagree with the Government’s approach have asked to remain anonymous, one MP said, while other experts have had their reputations smeared and their families even threatened. Some of the
‘There is a climate of fear’
abuse has come from within academic or professional circles, with one professor saying that debate is becoming impossible because “we are not talking to each other properly”.
One medic was forced to abandon a project to safeguard youngsters after their name was sullied when they questioned the Government’s approach.
Another expert was sidelined from a vital role on a Government advisory group, and others have been warned not to speak out.
And at least three scientists have been subjected to public abuse by colleagues who disagreed with their academic view.
One critic posted a grotesque image superimposed on a picture of a professor he
disagreed with, and other academics have been publicly branded “charlatans”.
Sir Graham, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, said: “It is essential that doctors and scientists are able to speak freely and to debate these issues without facing a witch hunt.”
Retired Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption told a podcast that he is a reluctant figurehead for questioning lockdown but felt obliged to because of the way critics had been treated. He said scientists and politicians had been “subjected to an extraordinarily unpleasant campaign of personal abuse”, and said he knew of one scientist whose family had been targeted.
Sir Desmond Swayne, Conservative MP for New Forest West, said: “I have received a large amount of correspondence from very eminent scientists and clinicians disagreeing with the conclusions that Sage and the chief medical