9 hours ago
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Chris MasonPolitical editor
Reform UK has distanced itself from a conference speaker who suggested that Covid vaccines were linked to the King's and the Princess of Wales' cancers.
Aseem Malholtra, an adviser to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, said: "One of Britain's most eminent oncologists Professor Angus Dalgleish said to me to share with you today that he thinks it's highly likely that the Covid vaccines have been a significant factor in the cancers in the royal family."
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said that it was "shockingly irresponsible" of Reform to allow Dr Malholtra at the conference.
The party said that it "does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech".
In his speech in Birmingham, at an event titled "Make Britain Healthy Again", Dr Malholtra also claimed that studies show that mRNA vaccines could alter genes.
Dr Malhotra, a cardiologist, also said taking the Covid vaccine was more likely to cause harm than the virus itself.
"It is highly likely that not a single person should have been injected with this," he added, before going on to say that the World Health Organization had been "captured" by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and urged for it to be replaced.
He hit out at health minister Stephen Kinnock, who called Dr Malhotra an "anti-vax conspiracy theorist".
On the stage, he asked the audience: "Have you heard anything anti-vax or conspiracy theory so far here?"
Dr Malholtra's views have been discredited by many medical professionals and are not supported by scientific evidence, and the NHS says that Covid vaccines meet all strict safety standards.
The link between the Covid jab and cancer has previously been dismissed by academics and oncologists after claims it had led to "turbo cancers".
Professor Brian Ferguson, professor of viral immunology at the University of Cambridge, accused Dr Malholtra of repeating an "outlandish conspiracy theory only serves to undermine the credibility of those spreading it".
He continued: "There is no credible evidence that these vaccines disrupt tumour suppressors or drive any kind of process that results in cancer.
"It is particularly crass to try to link this pseudoscience to the unfortunate incidents of cancer in the royal family."
The King's cancer diagnosis was first announced in February 2024. The palace has said he is receiving treatment, but has not said what type of cancer he has.
Catherine announced her diagnosis in March 2024, and went into remission in January. She, too, did not specify the type of cancer she had.
Streeting warned that "we are seeing falling numbers of parents getting their children vaccinated, and a resurgence of disease we had previously eradicated".
"It is shockingly irresponsible for Nigel Farage to give a platform to these poisonous lies. Farage should apologise and sever all ties with this dangerous extremism."
A Reform UK spokesman told the BBC: "Dr Aseem Malhotra is a guest speaker with his own opinions who has an advisory role in the US government. Reform UK does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech."
