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Doctors call for Earl Howe to be removed from role in Friends of the Royal College of Physicians

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f2239 (Published 9 April 2013)

Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2239

  1. Gareth Iacobucci

Author Affiliations

Six fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have called for health minister Earl Howe to be removed from his position as chair of the Friends of the Royal College, owing to his prominent role in helping to push through the government’s health reforms.

In a letter to RCP president Richard Thompson, the senior clinicians said that Howe was “not a fit person to fulfil this important role,” because he had helped introduce controversial legislation opening up the NHS to the marketplace—a policy that they said was “almost universally opposed by members of our college.”

The doctors said that Howe’s opposition to tobacco display legislation also made him unfit for the role, and urged Thompson to ask him to leave the position.

The letter reads: “Given both his role in the introduction of this legislation, almost universally opposed by members of our college, and his opposition to public health legislation that it is central to the college’s goals, we are astonished to discover that Earl Howe is chairman of the Friends of the Royal College.

“His actions, in relation to both the NHS and the tobacco industry, clearly suggest that he is not a fit person to fulfil this important role and we respectfully request that he should be asked by the college to relinquish the position.”

The RCP said that the position of chair was always listed in the annual report and accounts for transparency. It confirmed that it had received the letter and would be responding to it fully next week.

A spokeswoman explained: “The Friends of the RCP is an informal advisory group, including past presidents and officers, and figures from finance, industry, and other charities, which plays no role in the governance or management of the RCP but offers advice in areas such as effective fund raising. It meets very infrequently, often annually. The role is not political, and Lord Howe has been a Friend for ten years, based on his contributions to charity.”

Notes

Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2239

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