A British doctor used the main stage at Reform UK’s annual conference to suggest there may be a link between Covid-19 vaccines and members of the royal family getting cancer.
Dr Aseem Malhotra quoted a claim that the vaccination was a “significant factor” in the diagnoses of King Charles and the Princess of Wales.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said his words were dangerous and risked fuelling a drop in vaccine uptake.
Later, Lucy Connolly, the former childminder jailed after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred, received a standing ovation as she was introduced at the conference as Britain’s “favourite political prisoner”.
The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February 2024, and the Princess of Wales announced in March 2024 that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer was detected. In January this year, Kate announced that she was in remission.
Malhotra, who is an adviser to the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, was speaking on the main stage at Reform’s conference in Birmingham on Saturday. Dr David Bull, the party’s chairman, described him as a “brilliant clinician” and “vociferous public health campaigner”.
In a speech focusing heavily on alleged harms from vaccines, Malhotra said he had been asked to share findings from “one of Britain’s most eminent oncologists, Professor Angus Dalgleish” that “he thinks it’s highly likely that the Covid vaccines have been a factor, a significant factor, in the cancer of members of the royal family”.
In March 2024, Kate explained she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after cancer had been detected in tests
BBC STUDIOS/PA
Dalgleish is a professor of oncology at St George’s, University of London, and previously stood as a parliamentary candidate for Ukip in 2015. He was contacted for comment.
Malhotra sought to clarify his comments on X that Dalgleish’s opinion was supported by a statement from Steven Hatfill, an adviser to President Trump’s administration on pandemic preparedness.
Malhotra’s claims are not supported by mainstream clinicians or experts. Cancer Research UK has previously said there is no evidence to suggest that any of the Covid-19 vaccines cause cancer.
The doctor has been repeatedly criticised by other medics for making unproven claims. There have been calls for the General Medical Council to investigate him but it has not taken action.
Malhotra told the conference crowd that modern medicine had been “hijacked by powerful commercial interests” which he said were to blame for the UK’s healthcare crisis.
Claiming to be in “constant communication” with Kennedy, he accused pharmaceutical companies of “criminal behaviour” in hiding harms and promoting harmful medicines.
The UK Health Security Agency says Covid vaccines have saved 475,000 lives in the UK
HANNAH BEIER/REUTERS
According to the UK Health Security Agency, Covid vaccines have saved 475,000 lives in the UK, with more people avoiding hospital or being put on a ventilator in intensive care.
Streeting said: “When 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 said Malhotra was a “guest speaker with his own opinions”, adding that the party “does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech”.
After Malhotra, Connolly arrived on stage for an interview with The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast, during which she said she would like to work with Reform to overhaul the criminal justice system. She also argued that prison building should be halted and the majority of female inmates released.
Malhotra’s website says he holds the position of medical adviser to the Make America Healthy Again initiative, as well as chief health adviser to Action on World Health, the campaign group co-founded by Nigel Farage
Earlier, Farage signalled Reform would seek to significantly curb migrants’ access to benefits and said only British citizens would benefit from his plans to lift the two-child cap.
In an interview with Sky News, he said only “British working people” would be eligible for additional payments from the lifting of the cap, which prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children.
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It is understood he has told allies he wants to restrict the more generous payments to British citizens as a way of reducing the policy’s £2.5 billion-a-year price tag.
He also suggested people claiming out-of-work benefits would not qualify, with the policy reserved for couples working full-time for 37.5 hours a week.
He told Reform members on Friday he would soon “outline some serious cuts” to the welfare budget.
While the package of benefits cuts is not yet decided, senior party insiders have revealed they are considering a series of reforms largely focused on tightening eligibility criteria and imposing a more rigorous testing regime.
Farage and Richard Tice, his deputy leader, are particularly keen to reduce migrants’ ability to access benefits.
Asylum seekers are already largely excluded from the benefits system, receiving a small weekly allowance, while many overseas workers have no recourse to public funds as part of their visa conditions.
However, foreign nationals become eligible for universal credit and other benefits on the same terms as British citizens once they are granted indefinite leave to remain or refugee status. As of June this year, almost 1.3 million foreign nationals claimed UC.
Farage also confirmed he would deport female asylum seekers back to the Taliban in Afghanistan if he wins the next general election.
Asked by Sky News if he would detain women and children and “send them back” he responded: “Yes.”
Tice and Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, are also understood to be examining proposals to cut taxpayer funding to Motability Operations, a company that provides cars to disabled people in exchange for a portion of their benefits, while also restricting the types of vehicle available. Farage and Yusuf are also considering options to address what they consider an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions such as ADHD, mild anxiety and depression.