The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals.^[1] The Lancet was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, an English surgeon who named it after the surgical instrument called a lancet, as well as after the term "lancet arch",^{[citation needed]} a window with a sharp pointed arch, to indicate the "light of wisdom" or "to let in light". It publishes original research articles, review articles ("seminars" and "reviews"), editorials, book reviews, correspondence, as well as news features and case reports. The Lancet has been owned by Elsevier since 1991. As of 1995^[update], the editor-in-chief is Richard Horton. The journal has editorial offices in London, New York, and Beijing.

Impact[link]

In the 2010 Journal Citation Reports, The Lancet's impact factor was ranked second among general medical journals, at 33.63, after The New England Journal of Medicine (53.48).^[2]

Specialty journals[link]

The Lancet also has several speciality journals all bearing the parent title: The Lancet Neurology (neurology), The Lancet Oncology (oncology), and The Lancet Infectious Diseases (infectious diseases), all of which publish original research and reviews. These three journals have established significant reputations as important journals in their medical speciality. According to the 2010 Journal Citation Reports by Thomson Reuters, The Lancet Neurology's impact factor is 21.66, The Lancet Oncology 17.76, and The Lancet Infectious Diseases 16.14.^[2] There is also an online journal for students entitled The Lancet Student.

Volume renumbering[link]

Prior to 1990, The Lancet had volume numbering that reset every year. Issues in January to June were in volume i, with the rest in volume ii. In 1990, the journal moved to a sequential volume numbering scheme, with two volumes per year. Volumes were retro-actively assigned to the years prior to 1990, with the first issue of 1990 being assigned volume 335, and the last issue of 1989 assigned volume 334. The table of contents listing on ScienceDirect uses this new numbering scheme.^[3]

Expression of political views[link]

The Lancet has taken a political stand on several important medical and non-medical issues. Recent examples include criticism of the World Health Organization, rejecting claims of the efficacy of homoeopathy as a therapeutic option,^[4] disapproval during the time Reed Exhibitions (a division of Reed Elsevier) hosted arms industry fairs, and a call in 2003 for tobacco to be made illegal.^[5]

Controversial articles[link]

The Lancet was severely criticized after it published a paper in 1998, in which the authors suggested a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.^[6] In February 2004 The Lancet published a partial retraction of the paper.^[7] The editor-in-chief, Richard Horton, went on the record to say the paper had "fatal conflicts of interest" because the study's lead author, Andrew Wakefield, had a serious conflict of interest that he had not declared to The Lancet.^[8] The journal completely retracted the paper on 2 February 2010, after Wakefield was found to have acted unethically in conducting the research.^[9]

The Lancet also published a controversial estimate of the Iraq War's Iraqi death toll—around one hundred thousand—in 2004. In 2006 a follow-up study by the same team suggested that the violent death rate in Iraq was not only consistent with the earlier estimate, but had increased considerably in the intervening period (see Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War). The second survey estimated that there had been 654,965 excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war. The 95% confidence interval was 392,979 to 942,636. 1,849 households that contained 12,801 people were surveyed.^[10]

In January 2006, it was revealed that data had been fabricated in an article^[11] by the Norwegian cancer researcher Jon Sudbø and 13 co-authors published in The Lancet in October 2005.^[12][13] Several articles in other scientific journals were withdrawn following the withdrawal in The Lancet. Within a week, the high-impact New England Journal of Medicine published an expression of editorial concern regarding its published research papers by the same author and in November 2006, the journal withdrew two oral cancer studies led by the Norwegian researcher.^[14]

In a 2009 editorial, the journal accused Pope Benedict XVI of publicly distorting scientific evidence on condoms to promote Catholic doctrine on chastity in AIDS prevention.^[15] The Vatican defended itself by pointing to an earlier Lancet article published in 2000 which asserted that condoms could not possibly be sufficient in solving the AIDS crisis.^[16]

A December 2003 editorial by the journal, titled "How do you sleep at night, Mr Blair?", called for tobacco use to be completely banned in the UK. The Royal College of Physicians rejected their argument. John Britton, chairman of the college's tobacco advisory group, praised the journal for discussing the health problem, but he concluded that a "ban on tobacco would be a nightmare." Amanda Sandford, spokesperson for the anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health, stated that criminalizing a behaviour 26% of the population commit "is ludicrous." She also said, "We can't turn the clock back. If tobacco were banned we would have 13 million people desperately craving a drug that they would not be able to get." The deputy editor of The Lancet responded to the criticism by arguing that no other measures besides a total ban would likely be able to reduce tobacco use.^[17]

The smokers rights group FOREST stated that the editorial gave them "amusement and disbelief". Director Simon Clark called the journal "fascist" and argued that it is hypocritical to ban tobacco while allowing unhealthy junk foods, alcohol consumption, and participation in extreme sports. Health Secretary John Reid reiterated that his government is committed to helping people give up smoking. He added, "Despite the fact that this is a serious problem, it is a little bit extreme for us in Britain to start locking people up because they have an ounce of tobacco somewhere."^[18]

In August 2010, The Lancet Infectious Diseases published an article about an enzyme conferring multi-drug-resistance properties in bacteria,^[19] which had previously been named New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase or NDM-1 based on the assumed origin of the mechanism.^[20][21] The article reported 44 clinical isolates of bacteria positive for NDM-1 from Chennai, 26 from Haryana, 37 (from 29 patients) from the UK, and 73 from other sites in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Of the 29 UK patients, 17 had a history of travel to India or Pakistan within 1 year, and 14 had been admitted to hospital in these countries. The authors of the article cited medical tourism to India for the spread of bacteria carrying NDM-1, which the Indian government denied.^[22][23]

A December 2010 article determined that alcohol had the worst medical and social effects compared to other recreational substances such as heroin and crack cocaine. The drugs marijuana, ecstasy, and LSD scored far lower in terms of related harms. The authors did not advocate alcohol prohibition, but they suggested that the government raise the price of alcohol until it was no longer widely available.^[24] Gavin Partington, spokesman of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, responded to the report by saying that alcohol abuse affects "a minority" who needs "education, treatment and enforcement". He also remarked that millions of British citizens enjoy alcohol as "a regular and enjoyable social drink".^[25]

See also[link]

• List of medical journals

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Lancet Student

v t e Reed Elsevier Elsevier Imprints Academic Press Anderson Architectural Press Bailliere Tindall Butterworth–Heinemann Cell Press Churchill Livingstone Current Opinion Focal Press Gulf Professional Publishers Hanley & Belfus Masson Morgan Kaufmann Mosby Newness Pergamon Saunders Syngress Urban & Fischer William Andrew Selected journals Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Cell The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology The Lancet Tetrahedron Trends Other Embase ScienceDirect Scirus Scopus LexisNexis Butterworths CaseMap JurisClasseur Martindale-Hubbell Matthew Bender Quicklaw Shepard's Citations Zap Reed Business Information Australia HotFrog Germany DETAIL Netherlands AllAboutFeed Beleggers Belangen Bizz Boerderij Elsevier Meat International Pig Progress World Poultry United Kingdom Airline Business Bankersalmanac Caterer and Hotelkeeper Commercial Motor Community Care Crops Dairy Update Electronics Weekly Employers' Law Estates Gazette Farmers Weekly Farmland Market Flight International Hairdressers Journal International Health & Beauty Salon ICIS Irish Medical Times Kellysearch Kemps Film and TV Production Services Handbook MIMS Ireland Motor Transport New Scientist Occupational Health Optician Personnel Today Poultry World Totaljobs Training & Coaching Today Truck and Driver Utility Week XpertHR Zibb United States 411 Publishing BuyerZone MarketCast Reed Construction Data RSMeans Variety Category

Brian Deer
Brian Deer at a Westminster Skeptics meeting
Nationality	British
Education	University of Warwick
Occupation	Investigative journalist
Notable credit(s)	Investigative reporting on medical issues and the pharmaceutical industry
Website
http://briandeer.com

Brian Deer is a British investigative reporter, best known for inquiries into the drug industry, medicine and social issues for the Sunday Times of London.

Career[link]

After graduating in philosophy from the University of Warwick, he became editor and press officer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and was a member of The Leveller magazine collective. Subsequently he joined The Times, then The Sunday Times, first as a business news subeditor and then as a staff news reporter and feature writer.^[1] In the 1980s, under Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil, he was the UK's first social affairs correspondent,^[2] and between 1990 and 1992 reported from the United States.

Investigations[link]

One of Deer's early investigations caused uproar in the drug industry when in 1986 he revealed that research into the safety of the contraceptive pill was fabricated at Deakin University, Australia, by scientist Professor Michael Briggs, employed by the German company Schering AG.^[3] In 1994, his investigation of The Wellcome Trust led to the withdrawal in the UK of a blockbuster antibiotic, Septrin, Bactrim, and the sale of the trust's pharmaceutical subsidiary Wellcome Foundation.^[4] In 2005, the withdrawal of the Merck painkiller Vioxx was followed by an investigation by Deer into the British medical chiefs^{[clarification needed – what does this opaque term denote?]} behind the drug's introduction.^[5] In 2008, a celebrity psychiatrist, Raj Persaud, was suspended from practising medicine and resigned his academic position after being found guilty of plagiarism following a Deer investigation.^[6][7]

MMR vaccine controversy[link]

In a series of reports^[8] between 2004^[9] and 2010,^[10] Deer investigated concerns over the MMR vaccine, their publication in The Lancet medical journal in February 1998, and their chief proponent Andrew Wakefield. Deer's investigation^[11] led to the longest-ever inquiry^[12] by the UK General Medical Council. In January 2010, the GMC judged Wakefield to be "dishonest", "unethical" and "callous",^[13] and on 24 May 2010, he was struck off the UK medical register. Responding to Deer's findings, The Lancet partially retracted Wakefield's research in February 2004,^[14] and fully retracted it in February 2010 following the GMC findings.^[15][16] In 2011, Deer published his findings in the BMJ^[17] with an endorsement by the editors.^[18]

Deer's television documentary: "MMR: What they didn't tell you",^[19] a one-hour Dispatches documentary for Channel 4, first broadcast 18 November 2004, became the core subject of a libel case. Wakefield, who initiated the case, eventually dropped it, becoming liable for the costs incurred by Deer and the other defendants.^[20] Deer's documentary "The drug trial that went wrong",^[21] nominated for a Royal Television Society journalism award, investigated the experimental monoclonal antibody TGN1412.

Honours[link]

Working for The Times and The Sunday Times Deer received several awards, including a British Press Award for his investigations.^[1]

Deer was the 2009 Susan B Meister lecturer in child health policy at the University of Michigan.^[22]

In February 2011, he was nominated for two further British Press Awards, in the categories of news reporter of the year and specialist journalist of the year, the latter of which he won on 5 April 2011.^[23][24][25]

In October 2011, Deer won the annual HealthWatch award, previously awarded to Sir Iain Chalmers, Professor David Colquhoun, and other prominent British medical campaigners.^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

• briandeer.com - Deer's personal website
• Radio interview with Brian Deer on the MMR vaccine controversy from CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition

This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2012)

Richard Horton, BSc MB FRCP FMedSci, (born 29 December 1961) is the present editor-in-chief of The Lancet, a United Kingdom-based medical journal.

Education and career[link]

Horton studied at Bristol Grammar School from 1969 to 1980 and at the University of Birmingham from 1980 to 1986, receiving his BSc (in physiology) in 1983, and qualifying in medicine in 1986. He completed his general medical training in Birmingham before moving to the liver unit at the Royal Free Hospital.

In 1990, he joined The Lancet as an assistant editor and moved to New York as North American editor in 1993. Two years later he returned to the UK to become Editor-in-Chief.

He was the first President of the World Association of Medical Editors, and is a Past-President of the US Council of Science Editors (2005–06). He is an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University College London, and the University of Edinburgh. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Founder Fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences.

In 2007, he received the Edinburgh Medal for professional achievements judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding of human health and wellbeing. In 2008, he was appointed a Senior Associate of The Nuffield Trust, a think tank for research and policy studies in health services.

He has been a medical columnist for The Observer and writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and New York Review of Books. His book about controversies in modern medicine, Second Opinion: Doctors, Diseases and Decisions in Modern Medicine, was published in 2003. (In the USA, it was published under the title Health Wars: On the Global Front Lines of Modern Medicine.) He also wrote the Royal College of Physicians report on medical professionalism, "Doctors in Society" (2005). He is married with one daughter, and lives in London.

Controversies[link]

Peer review[link]

The mistake, of course, is to have thought that peer review was any more than a crude means of discovering the acceptability — not the validity — of a new finding. Editors and scientists alike insist on the pivotal importance of peer review. We portray peer review to the public as a quasi-sacred process that helps to make science our most objective truth teller. But we know that the system of peer review is biased, unjust, unaccountable, incomplete, easily fixed, often insulting, usually ignorant, occasionally foolish, and frequently wrong.^[1]

Medical practice[link]

Horton is also said to have been^{[weasel words]} involved in controversies over the role of the pharmaceutical industry in medicine, the MMR vaccine, the ethics of medical publishing, and global health. The British Medical Journal of 22 January 2011 ran an editorial by Fiona Godlee referencing these concerns^{[citation needed]}. In the case of the MMR vaccine, despite being a vocal proponent^{[citation needed]} of academic publication ethics, he was accused^{[by whom?]}, of violating some of his own standards and allowing authors of the MMR paper to vouch for their own innocence without having any non-authors from the same institution examine the medical records for ethics violations or fraud.^{[citation needed]} Dr. Horton might have^{[weasel words]} misrepresented the scope of the Lancet investigation in early responses to the article.^[2]

HIV/AIDS[link]

Regarding the role of HIV in AIDS, Horton wrote in The New York Review of Books that "The central role of HIV in the development of immunodeficiency is, in my view, established by the force of epidemiological and laboratory evidence. On this key issue, Duesberg is, I believe, in error," but "Duesberg has predicted, correctly, that the virus alone is not enough to explain all aspects of the immunodeficiency process."^[3][4]

Iraq[link]

At the Time to Go Demo of 23 September 2006, Horton accused American president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair of "lies" and "killing children" in Iraq. On 11 October, The Lancet published new estimates of the death toll of Iraqi citizens after the US-led invasion in 2003, putting it at a total of 655,000. Some supporters of the invasion of Iraq dismissed it for what they claimed was flawed methodology.^[5][6][7] Some opponents of the invasion questioned its reliability due to its extreme divergence from other data on the conflict.^[8] Some journals and statistical experts were supportive. Other experts in the field were not convinced, saying the estimates were "high, and probably way too high",^[9] and that the authors had published a "misinterpretation of their own figures".^[10] Others were incredulous that the survey could have been performed as reported under such dangerous conditions.^[11][12]

Iraq's health minister estimated during a press conference in November 2006 that between 100,000 and 150,000 people had died since the invasion in 2003, based on an estimate of around 100 deaths per day brought to morgues and hospitals during 2006,^[13] while saying that the Lancet estimates were an "exaggerated number".^[14]

U.S. President George W. Bush was asked at a 2005 press conference to estimate the number of "civilians, military, police, insurgents (and) translators" that had been killed in Iraq^[15] and gave a number of 30,000 deaths, but the White House declined to provide a source for that estimate.

References[link]

1. ^ Horton, Richard (2000). "Genetically modified food: consternation, confusion, and crack-up". MJA 172 (4): 148–9. PMID 10772580. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/172_04_210200/horton/horton.html. 
2. ^ Deer, Brian. The Lancet’s two days to bury bad news. BMJ. 2011;342. doi:10.1136/bmj.c7001. PMID 21245118.
3. ^ "'The AIDS Heresy': An Exchange". New York Review of Books. August 8, 1996. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1443. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
4. ^ "'The AIDS Heresy': Another Exchange". New York Review of Books. September 19, 1996. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1424. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
5. ^ Reynolds, Paul (2006-10-12). "Huge gaps in Iraq death estimates". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6045112.stm. 
6. ^ "Critics attack huge Iraqi casualty figures". Radio Netherlands. 2006-10-12. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/irq061012. 
7. ^ Russell, Ben (2006-10-13). "'Lancet' back at centre of controversy". London: The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1842560.ece. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
8. ^ Iraq Body Count Press Release 14 (16 Oct 2006) :: Iraq Body Count
9. ^ "Is Iraq's Civilian Death Toll 'Horrible' -- Or Worse?". The Washington Post. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldopinionroundup/2006/10/is_iraqs_civilian_death_toll_h.html. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
10. ^ Taipei Times - archives
11. ^ "Iraqi death toll withstands scrutiny". Nature. 2006-10-19. http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061016/full/443728a.html. 
12. ^ "Iraqi Death Estimates Called Too High; Methods Faulted". Science. 2006-10-20. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/314/5798/396. 
13. ^ "Iraq issues controversial death toll". Financial Times. 2006-11-10. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/08e4ce42-70dc-11db-8e0b-0000779e2340.html. 
14. ^ Iraqi health minister estimates as many as 150,000 Iraqis killed by insurgents - iht,europe,Austria Iraqis Killed - Europe - International Herald Tribune
15. ^ Dorell, Oren (2005-12-12). "Bush: 30,000 Iraqis dead". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-12-bush-iraq_x.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 

External links[link]

• Richard Horton speech at Time to Go anti-war demonstration in Manchester on 23 September 2006 at YouTube
• briandeer.com - Dr Richard Horton in Lancet scandal (MMR)

The Right Honourable Andrew Lansley CBE MP
Secretary of State for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 May 2010
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Andy Burnham
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office 19 June 2004 – 11 May 2010
Leader	Michael Howard David Cameron
Preceded by	Tim Yeo
Succeeded by	Andy Burnham
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
In office 15 June 1999 – 18 September 2001
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	Tim Collins
Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency created
Majority	7,838 (13.3%)
Personal details
Born	(1956-12-11) 11 December 1956 (age 55) Hornchurch, Essex, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Dr Marilyn Biggs (separated 1997) Sally Low
Children	5
Alma mater	University of Exeter
Religion	Church of England
Website	andrewlansley.co.uk
Nickname(s)	Angela Lansbury[1]

Andrew David Lansley, CBE, MP (born 11 December 1956) is a British politician who has been the Secretary of State for Health since 2010, the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire since the 1997 general election, and was the Shadow Secretary of State for Health from June 2004 until becoming Secretary of State for Health in May 2010. Lansley's Health and Social Care Act 2012 is one of the most controversial plans of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, resulting in strong opposition from both the Royal College of Nursing and British Medical Association.

Early life[link]

Born in Hornchurch, Essex, Lansley was educated at Brentwood School and the University of Exeter, gaining a BA in politics. During his time at Exeter University, Lansley was elected as President of the Guild of Students (Student Union), as a Broad Left candidate. His father, Thomas, worked in a pathology laboratory and was co-founder of the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine and chair of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Scientists.^[2]

Before entering politics, Lansley had "a promising career in the civil service".^[3] Lansley worked for Norman Tebbit for three years as his principal private secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry.^[3] This encompassed the period of the IRA's 1984 Brighton hotel bombing at the Conservative Party Conference in which Tebbit was seriously injured. Lansley and others are praised by Tebbit for their support at that time.

Lansley went on to become more fully involved in politics. In 1990, he was appointed to run the Conservative Research Department. He ran the Conservative campaign for the 1992 General Election, which he describes as one of "his proudest career achievements"^[4] and for which he was awarded a CBE.^[3] He suffered a minor stroke in 1992, initially misdiagnosed as an ear infection,^[3] but made a full recovery save from permanently losing his sense of "fine balance".

Member of Parliament[link]

Lansley sought to enter parliament and was selected for the South Cambridgeshire seat where he was subsequently elected as an MP in 1997. He immediately joined the House of Commons health select committee.^[3]

At the 2001 election he again took on a strategy role as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. As part of his duties Shadow Ministers had to clear the timing of their announcements with Lansley. He fitted them into a timetable known as the 'Stalingrid'. The 2001 election was not a success for the Conservative Party and party leader, William Hague, resigned in its wake. Iain Duncan Smith, the new leader, offered Lansley a position after the election but was turned down and, until Michael Howard became leader, Lansley was a backbencher.

He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.^[5]

Shadow Cabinet[link]

After Howard's election as party leader, Lansley soon returned to the Conservative frontbench. He served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Health. In his post he developed policies centred on using choice to improve the National Health Service, and was author of a chapter in The Future of the NHS.^[6]

Secretary of State for Health[link]

After becoming Prime Minister in May 2010, David Cameron named Lansley as Health Secretary in the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.^[7]

Proposed reform[link]

In January 2011, Ministers published the Health and Social Care Bill, detailing planned reforms that will pave the way for GP consortia to take over management of the NHS from Primary Care Trusts. Prime minister David Cameron said "fundamental changes" are needed in the NHS.^[8] But doctors' leaders believe that GPs could simply have taken charge of PCTs instead—and achieved the same results.^[9] The reforms will pave the way for groups of GPs to take control of the NHS budget. The consortia will take charge of about 80% of the funding, and will be in charge of planning and buying everything from community health centres to hospital services. However, some specialist services such as neurosurgery will be provided by the national board. The consortia will take charge from 2013, although pilots are beginning to start.^[9]

In a letter to The Times, BMA chairman Hamish Meldrum, Royal College of Nursing chief executive Peter Carter and the heads of Unison, Unite and others said the speed and scale of the reforms proposed risked undermining the care of patients by putting cost before quality.^[9] Criticism of the reform had been mounting ahead of the publication of the Health and Social Care Bill on 19 January 2011.

Lansley’s white paper on the NHS has led to him being the subject of an unflattering hip hop track and video written by rapper NxtGen and poet Rob Gee with the chorus "Andrew Lansley, greedy / Andrew Lansley, tosser / the NHS is not for sale, you grey-haired manky codger,"^[10] which was viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube in its first year online^[11] and was picked up as one of the theme tunes to the anti cuts movement and spawned several placards at the March for the Alternative in March 2011.^[11][12] The video, partly paid for by Unison^[13] features NxtGen rapping about Lansley's proposed GP commissioning policy, his relation to the expenses scandal and the controversial donation he received from private health company Care UK.^[11] Lansley has responded with the statement he was "impressed that he's managed to get lyrics about GP commissioning into a rap", but "We will never privatise the NHS".^[10]

Following the widespread criticism, on 4 April 2011, the Government announced a "pause" in the progress of the Health and Social Care Bill to allow the government to 'listen, reflect and improve' the proposals.^[14][15]

On 13 April 2011, 96% of 497 delegates at the Royal College of Nursing conference backed a motion of no confidence questioning Andrew Lansley's handling of NHS reforms in England.^[16] Later that day, Lansley met with 65 nurses at the same conference, and apologized by saying "I am sorry if what I'm setting out to do hasn't communicated itself."^[16]

Controversies[link]

Conflict of interest[link]

While in opposition as health spokesman, Andrew Lansley accepted a donation of £21,000 from John Nash, the chairman of private healthcare provider Care UK and founder of the private equity fund Sovereign Capital, which owns several other private healthcare companies, to help fund his private office, leading to allegations of a conflict of interest.^[17] Such companies stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of Conservative policies to increase the use of private health providers within the NHS.^[18]

Andrew Lansley's wife, Sally Low, is the managing director of Low Associates. Sally Low denies that Low Associates is involved in lobbying, preferring to describe its activities as providing "strategic advice" to clients. Low Associates helps people prepare before they give evidence to committees of MPs, and Sally Low has given speeches on improving lobbying skills, in which she said that lobbyists should “establish positive relationships with decision-makers before you need their help”. Clients of Low Associates personnel in their previous careers have included the pharmaceutical companies SmithKline Beecham, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.^[19]

Recession[link]

Andrew Lansley wrote a blog entry on the Conservative Party website on 25 November 2008, which claimed the "good things" from a recession included people being able to spend more time with their families.^[20] He was later forced to apologise.^[21]

Parliamentary expenses[link]

In the Parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009, Lansley was accused of 'flipping', or redesignating, his second home, after claiming for renovation of a rural cottage prior to selling it. It is claimed that he then 'flipped' his second home designation to a London flat, and claimed thousands of pounds for furniture. Lansley responded to the claims by stating that his claims were "within the rules".^[22]

Health Video Message[link]

Andrew Lansley faced criticism recently^[23] when he appeared on a video played at NHS patients bedside in England, the continuous loop video was played to patients on the Hospedia system. When asked by Tom Blenkinsop, Lansley claimed he received no payment, and there was no cost to the taxpayer.^[24]

Health policy[link]

Lansley has also courted controversy by putting fast food companies such as McDonald's, KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry.^[25][26]

On 20 February 2012, Lansley was heckled by a British pensioner.^[27][28]

In popular culture[link]

"Andrew Lansley Rap" by MC Nxt Gen and Rob Gee has garnered over a half million views since its publication. It was written in response to Andrew Lansley's controverisal Health and Social Care Act 2012, which will see the complete removal of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), and more control of financial budgets given to GPs.^[29]

Personal life[link]

Lansley's wealth is estimated at £700,000, as of 2009.^[30]

In 1997 Lansley left his first wife, Dr Marilyn Biggs, with whom he had three children. He has two children with his second wife Sally Low.^[31] He is a member of the Church of England.^[32]

Interests[link]

At a business conference Lansley's wife advised attendees to “establish positive relationships with decision-makers". Although staff members of Low Associates, the PR firm she runs, had food and drug companies among their clients before joining Low Associates, the firm denies it has any clients in the health sector.^[33]

Food advertisers[link]

Until December 2009, Lansley received £134 an hour from a firm of advertisers that represents clients such as Walkers Crisps, McDonalds, Unilever, Mars and Pizza Hut; Private Eye suggests a link between these activities and Lansley's desire to see a more lightly regulated food industry.^[34] The same publication suggested a similar link to a Department of Health report on red meat in which the only products listed in the report found to contain suitable amounts of red meat to merit a "Good" rating were a McDonald's Big Mac, and a Peperami (manufactured by Unilever).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andrew Lansley

• Andrew Lansley CBE MP official constituency website
• Profile at the Conservative Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Andrew Lansley collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• The Future of the NHS

v t e Cameron cabinet (list) Cameron · Clegg Alexander · Cable · Clarke · Davey · Duncan Smith · Gillan · Gove · Greening · Hague · Hammond · Hunt · Lansley · May · Mitchell · Moore · Osborne · Paterson · Pickles · Spelman · Strathclyde · Warsi Also attending: Letwin · Maude · McLoughlin · Willetts · Young When on agenda: Grieve Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement · Coalition government

v t e Cabinet of Prime Minister David Cameron (since 2010)   Cabinet Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Minister for the Civil Service David Cameron (2010–present) Deputy Prime Minister Lord President of the Council Nick Clegg (2010–present) First Secretary of State Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague (2010–present) Lord Chancellor Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke (2010–present) Secretary of State for the Home Department Minister for Women and Equality Theresa May (2010–present) Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox (2010–2011) · Philip Hammond (2011–present) Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable (2010–present) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith (2010–present) Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne (2010–2012) · Ed Davey (2012–present) Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley (2010–present) Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove (2010–present) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles (2010–present) Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond (2010–2011) · Justine Greening (2011–present) Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Caroline Spelman (2010–present) Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (2010–present) Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell (2010–present) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson (2010–present) Secretary of State for Scotland Danny Alexander (2010) · Michael Moore (2010–present) Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan (2010–present) Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt (2010–present)   Also attending Cabinet meetings Minister for the Cabinet Office Paymaster General Francis Maude (2010–present) Minister of State for Policy Paymaster General Oliver Letwin (2010–present) Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willetts (2010–present) Leader of the House of Commons Lord Privy Seal Sir George Young (2010–present) Chief Whip in the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Patrick McLoughlin (2010–present)   Parliament Leader of the House of Commons Lord Privy Seal Sir George Young, 6th Baronet (2010–present) Leader of the House of Lords Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde (2010–present) Government Chief Whip Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Patrick McLoughlin (2010–present) Deputy Chief Whip Treasurer of the Household John Randall (2010–present) Deputy Chief Whip Comptroller of the Household Liberal Democrats Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael (2010–present) Whip Vice-Chamberlain of the Household Mark Francois (2010–present) Assistant Whips Philip Dunne (2010–present) Stephen Crabb (2010–present) Robert Goodwill (2010–present) Shailesh Vara (2010–present) Bill Wiggin (2010–present) Chloe Smith (2010–2011) - Greg Hands (2011–present) Mark Hunter (2010–present) Norman Lamb (2010–2012) - Jenny Willott (2012–present) Chief Whip Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St Johns (2010–present) Deputy Chief Whip Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard David Shutt, Baron Shutt of Greetland (2010–present) Whips Lords and Baronesses in Waiting John Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee (2010–present) John Astor, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever (2010–present) Rupert Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley Lindsay Northover, Baroness Northover (2010–present) Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings (2010–present) John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach (2010–2011) - Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston (2011–present) Sandip Verma, Baroness Verma (2010–present) William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire (2010–present)