“As Minister of Health I announced to Parliament on 22 January 1975 the policy of achieving self-sufficiency in blood products to remove the reliance on imported blood products which ran the risk of having come from dubious donors from other countries, in particular America’s ‘skid row’, who had been paid to donate.  I authorised the allocation of special finance to bring about self-sufficiency which I was assured could be achieved within 2-3 years (see the memo Factor VIII memo).

“After I was moved to the Foreign Office in 1976 I never learnt until the 1980s that that policy had, in effect, been abandoned by which time many, many more people had been infected with not just hepatitis but with the HIV virus which led to AIDs.

“Sir Brian Langstaff has produced a searching, insightful and damning report and everyone must take on board in future the need for a ‘duty of candour’.  I hope now the Government will commit to generous compensation for all those who have suffered from this scandal.”

Statement first issued Monday 20 May 2024

For more information, please read these extracts from Vol 2 of the Infected Blood Inquiry Report; Extract 1 and  Extract 2