Evan Harris is the Liberal Democratic MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, and he is also a principal investigator in the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on homeopathy. Evan Harris completed his IPT Fellowship with GlaxoSmithKline Ltd.
So why is he leading the sceptic anti homeopathy 10.23 campaign? Evan Harris also has links to Sense About Science, which he declared to the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on homeopathy.
Phil Willis is the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrowgate an Knaresborough, and he was a Member of the Science and Technology Commission into homeopathy, and he also has links to Sense About Science,
This is a scandalous conflict of interest!
Read more about Evan Harris and Phil Willis’s friends in Sense About Science,
So let’s get this straight – the Science and Technology Committee report into homeopathy and its recommendations that led to the media snow this week, and the dramatic assertion that the public have been duped since 1948 by NHS placebos masquerading as medicine, is the result of a report ratified by THREE MPs: TWO of whom were NOT EVEN PRESENT AT THE COMMITTEE MEETINGS – and ONE of the two was NOT EVEN A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE when the hearings were held, and is due to stand down at the election in May this year.
This Science and Technology Committee investigation into homeopathy was a set up and a sham from its inception to the final meeting and delivery of the report to the UK press. And there’s no “surely not” about it.
Accurately tagged Dr Death by his colleagues and the national UK newspapers for his support of embryo experiments, Pharma Rep Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West and Abingdon) has been a tremendous public supporter of paediatrician David Southall, now struck off from the UK Medical Register for professional abuse and misconduct perpetrated against families and their children.
Many doctors, however, are unhappy about the way he carries on, claiming that he manipulates evidence and browbeats opponents…“He wants to ignore or distort the evidence to maintain his point of view. He’s unbelievable,”… “What he knows about science could be put on the back of a postage stamp”…. It is partly his tone of pious, ideological certainty that annoys his fellow MPs. Even the Liberal Democrats appear embarrassed about him….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYuLjl9bgIw
One would imagine that a major function of a Science and Technology Committee would be the careful and polite gathering of evidence from the expert witnesses asked to come before it, and the sober reflection on and considered weighing of that evidence to arrive at a set of balanced recommendations.
Wednesday 25th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5221
Monday 30th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5257
Written Submissions:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/memo/homeopathy/contents.htm
Evan Harris‘s scandalous antics as a principal investigator at the hearings suggest that, in his case, nothing could have been further from the truth.
Evan Harris treated the hearings as a ribald piece of cheap theatre for the sole expression of his own biased views, effectively diverting the Science and Technology Committee from its original purpose (the examination of the Government’s reasons for maintaining homeopathy on the NHS).
The transcript of the recent impromptu speech made by Evan Harris at the 10.23 gathering of so-called ‘sceptics’ in Red Lion Square, exemplifies this perfectly.
Evan Harris entertained the crowd by quoting from the 25th November session of the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on homeopathy hearings and his questioning of Dr Peter Fisher of The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (an institution which many Liberal Democrats supported by signing EDM 1240 in 2007).
This demonstrates Evan Harris‘ total lack of impartiality, sobriety, and respect not only for Dr Fisher as a witness and a colleague, but by implication, he has also impugned the integrity of the approximately 400 other qualified medical practitioners in the UK who practice homeopathy.
Evan Harris therefore is clearly in breach of Articles 46 and 47 of the GMC’s Guidelines for Good Medical Practice, and deserves censure by the GMC.
Article 46. You must treat your colleagues fairly and with respect. You must not bully or harass them, or unfairly discriminate against them by allowing your personal views to affect adversely your professional relationship with them. You should challenge colleagues if their behaviour does not comply with this guidance.
Article 47. You must not make malicious and unfounded criticisms of colleagues that may undermine patients’ trust in the care or treatment they receive, or in the judgement of those treating them.
In addition, Evan Harris‘s ignorance of the growing clinical and scientific evidence in support of homeopathy, coupled with his enormous bias makes one wonder why a) he was ever allowed to serve on such a committee, and b) why he is the Lib Dem spokesperson on science.
Given the viciousness of Evan Harris‘s continued attacks on homeopathy, and the apparent silence of the Liberal Democrat party in the face of them, and Evan Harris‘ continuance as Lib Dem spokesperson on science, one can only assume he has the tacit support of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Make your vote count. Around 10% of the UK population have taken a homeopathic remedy in the last 12 months (that is about 6 million people making use of homeopathy, which has been part of the NHS since its inception in 1948), and they cherish this freedom of therapeutic choice within the NHS.
Make your vote count. The history of The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital speaks for itself. It is not up for grabs by people who flaunt their conflict of interest in our faces so blatantly as does Evan Harris.
Make your vote count. Evan Harris has demonstrated by his actions that he has no respect for Parliament and the institutions our our country
Make your vote count. Obviously, Evan Harris is one of those MPs who thinks he can do whatever he likes and get away with it with impunity!
Make your vote count: Evan Harris has links to Sense About Science spokesperson Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, which he declared to the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on homeopathy
In February 2004 he accompanied Sunday Times journalist Brian Deer to The Lancet offices to level accusations against Andrew Wakefield. Although Evan Harris‘s accusations of unethical practices in regard to the treatment of patients were endorsed neither by The Lancet or the Sunday Times he led a debate in the House of Commons, re-introducing the accusations under protection of parliamentary privilege.
In this debate he did disclose recent hospitality from MMR defendants Aventis, but failed to acknowledge earlier hospitality from Glaxo, by that period merged with SmithKline Beecham, and also an MMR defendant. When this was brought up in BMJ Rapid Responses a defense of Evan Harris came through from a senior officer of the Health Protection Agency, Prof Brian McCloskey.
In 2006 Evan Harris was on the panel of judges for the Association of British Science Writers Awards which awarded Ben Goldacre for the second time the prize for best feature article (2005).
Make your vote count. Dr Evan Harris, a senior Liberal Democrat MP, spent thousands doing up and adding value to his taxpayer-funded second home before selling it to his parents.
Evan Harris, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, told officials that he needed part of the enlarged mortgage to repay £27,000 which he had borrowed for the deposit from his parents, Brenda and Frank, a respected university professor.
That request was declined, but he was allowed to increase the mortgage to pay for the £40,000 cost of extending the lease. As a result, his claims for mortgage interest went up from £519 to £781 a month.
The MP’s application to put the cost of remortgaging on his expenses appeared to have raised concern among officials. In a memo, a senior member of the fees office wrote: “I got the impression of a man under some pressure … loan of money from his parents … he needed to pay the money back to them.”
After remortgaging, Evan Harris claimed the £1,050 legal fees and £881 surveyors’ bill on his expenses.
Three years later, in the autumn of 2008, he sold the one-bedroom flat to his parents for £350,000, at a time when property prices in the capital had collapsed as a result of the recession. Land Registry documents show that they bought the property without taking out a mortgage.
Evan Harris sold the flat to his parents for £200,000 more than he paid for it in 1997. He then bought a new flat for £730,000 a short walk away.
The MP said yesterday that the price paid by his parents was based on an estate agent’s valuation in August, shortly before the collapse of the market. Insisting that the sale abided by “best practice”, he added: “It is no secret that my parents bought the flat. All my friends know this and I told the local paper last week.”
The MP added that it would have “short-changed” the taxpayer not to have bought the lease because the value would have fallen.
During the two years running up to the sale, Evan Harris spent more than £6,600 of taxpayers’ funds doing up the apartment. He said: “I have not identified any allowances claimed which were inappropriate. I will pass over to the taxpayer any capital gain financed by allowances when I no longer need a flat for work. This means the taxpayer is no worse off and perhaps even better off as a result of the way I have used the second home allowance.
“I am very confident that I have acted entirely appropriately in terms of claims made as a Member of Parliament.”
Evan Harris said that he paid capital gains tax when he sold the flat to his parents. He added: “I have sold a second home without avoiding CGT, without benefiting a family member and without refurbishing it first.”
#1 by Brian Kaplan on February 11th, 2010
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You make some excellent points here. Harris was incredibly hostile to homeopathy in that hearing and you certainly make a case for people who love homeopathy not to vote for him personally. Is the Lib Dem party more hostile to homeopathy than the others? I don’t know the answer to this but what I do know is that this whole movement to remove homeopathy from the NHS goes against the very ethos of a liberal democracy (note lower case). Those who want it removed have scant regard at best and contempt at worst for the significant minority who do want it and are quite happy to bully this minority into submission. They are able to do this only because we have a single system of universal health care. If it was divided into 4 separate health systems as it is in some other countries, those that wanted to attract homeopathic advocates could provide doctors practising homeopathic medicine.
As we have only one NHS it is possible for the majority to bully the significant minority and say to them: ‘We know better than you what is good for you and will force you to accept our view!’ This sort of behaviour flies in the face of the essence of liberal democracy. Evan Harris may call himself a Liberal Democrat but his behaviour here shows that he is no supporter of true liberal democracy.
#2 by Edd on February 12th, 2010
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This is absolutely not a party political issue, at least not at the moment. Evan Harris is hostile to homeopathy, but not all Lib Dems are. You should make your vote count, and as much as I am a homeopathy skeptic I think it is far more important to encourage everyone to vote as they wish, but in a properly informed manner.
Evan is anti-homeopathy, but my MP, Liberal Democrat Mike Hancock remains firmly a homeopathy supporter, despite my efforts to persuade him otherwise. If you happen to be in my constituency and want to vote for an MP who supports homeopathy, it does not mean that you should not vote Lib Dem.
If people want to make homeopathy a voting issue either way, they could do worse than look at signatories of EDM 1240, supporting funding of NHS homeopathic hospitals. Amongst the signatories are some extremely prominent members of all three major parties – in the Liberal Democrat case here’s a few:
Mark Oaten, Lembit Opik, Chris Huhne, and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.
Evan might be the Liberal Democrat science spokesman but that does not mean that the Lib Dem candidate in your constituency agrees with him at all.
Here’s a better idea than simply checking EDM 1240 – why not ask *all* your candidates if they support homeopathy? And then if that’s an important factor in your voting you can do so fully informed. As a skeptic it’s what I’d do, and I’d hope homeopathy supporters do it as well. Our democracy is important and we have to make sure we vote in an informed way to make it work.
#3 by Sue on February 12th, 2010
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The Liberal Party historically had some fine supporters of homeopathy (see below), but Evan Harris is not ‘liberal’ nor is he a ‘democrat’:
Historic Liberals who supported homeopathy:
Herbert Henry Asquith, closely connected to loads of homeopathic supporters etc,
Joseph Albert Jack Pease 1st Baron Gainford, was an advocate of homeopathy, as was his first cousin Katherine Maria Routledge,
James Stansfeld, was on the Management Committee of the English Homeopathic Association,
Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitzmaurice 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, was on the Committee of the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method,
William Ewert Gladstone, was a patient of homeopath James Manby Gully and Joseph Kidd
Culling Eardley Smith, was involved in the founding the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1849,
John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell 9th Duke of Argyll, laid the Cornerstone of the Henry Tyler Wing of the London Homeopathic Hospital on 30.6.1909,
George Henry Charles Byng 3rd Earl of Strafford, asked David Wilson to sponsor beds at St. George’s Hospital in return for conducting clinical trials into homeopathy at that hospital – an offer which was refused,
Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland Leveson Gower, a patient of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, and he thanked Frederick Hervey Foster Quin for ‘saving him from the blue pills‘,
Henry Pelham Pelham Clinton 5th Duke of Newcastle under Lyme, was a patient of homeopathy, and his wife was a patient of Samuel Hahnemann in Paris, and he was a sponsor of Mary Jane Seacole,
Henry John Temple Viscount Palmerston, is listed in The British and Foreign Homeopathic Medical Directory and Record in 1853. Lord Palmerston’s wife was also a homeopathic patient,
Albert Edmund Parker 3rd Earl of Morley, and his wife were advocates of homeopathy (his father in law Robert Stayner Holford was a sponsor of homeopathy), and he was a patient of Allan Broman,
Granville George Leveson Gower 2nd Earl Granville, was a friend of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin,
Hugh Lupus Grosvenor 1st Duke of Westminster, was also a staunch advocate of homeopathy, he hosted British homeopaths in Grosvenor House for fundraising events (see The Convalescent Home in Eastbourne), and was an early Sponsor of the enlargement of the London Homeopathic Hospital, eventually completed by Henry Whatley Tyler, he became a Vice President of the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1878, and in 1894, he gave orders to his agents that none of his properties in the West End of London should be leased to allopathic physicians, for fear they will drive away his fashionable tenants,
Joseph Chamberlain, worked with homeopath, journalist and historian J Ellis Barker,
Interested in homeopathic history? see http://homeopathy.wildfalcon.com/
#4 by Steve Scrutton on February 14th, 2010
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Anyone who loves homeopathy should certainly considered very seriously who they vote for. The Green party has the most positive, pro-traditional therapies, most critical Big Pharma policies. But the most important argument over health policy in the next Parliament is probably going to be about patient choice. And here, the Lib Dems, minus Evan Harris, are probably going to be our best allies. Certainly, Harris and his denialist cronies, will want to do anything to prevent people accessing homeopathy via the NHS, and will have to be resisted. There are supportive people in all political parties, as well as anti-libertarians – and we must all be careful to vote for the right individual rather than the right party!
#5 by Max Tomlinson on February 15th, 2010
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This to my local MP Lynne Featherstone:
Dear Lynne,
I have just read with interest that Evan Harris is the Liberal Democratic MP for Oxford West and Abingdon is leading the sceptic anti homeopathy 10.23 campaign.
As a homeopath, a long term lib dem voter and a constituent I would be interested in your opinion on Evan Harris.
What is his role within the lib dems?
Will he influence your health policy if we have a hung parliament?
Does Nick Clegg understand what this Doctor is doing?
I am afraid that my long association with the lib dems is hanging in the balance.
I will campaign strongly against any lib dem denunciation of CAM medicine, as will my family.
I seek your assurances that the lib dems are not anti complementary medicine and would appreciate an honest take on Evan Harris.
This is an interesting link on Dr. Evans:
http://avilian.co.uk/2010/02/if-you-love-homeopathy-dont-vote-liberal-democrat/
I also note your signature on:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33006&SESSION=885