Chris Whitty

The former Department for International Development (London office) (far right)

From 2009 to 2015, he was Chief Scientific Adviser and director of research for the Department for International Development (DFID).[10][3][14] He led the Research and Evidence Division, which worked on health, agriculture, climate change, energy, infrastructure, economic and governance research. During this time, with co-authors Neil Ferguson and Jeremy Farrar, he wrote an article in Nature titled "Infectious disease: Tough choices to reduce Ebola transmission",[15] explaining the UK government's response to Ebola in support of the government of Sierra Leone, which he took a leading role in designing, including the proposal to build and support centres where people could self-isolate voluntarily if they suspected that they could have the disease.[16]

From January 2016 to August 2021, he was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care, responsible for the department's research and development work, including being Head of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).[2]

From 2017 to 2018, he was also interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser and head of the science and engineering profession in government.[2] During this period Novichok, the military nerve agent, was responsible for the 2018 Salisbury poisonings, and Whitty chaired the government SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group in Emergencies) and advised COBR for the crisis.[2][3]

He was appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England in 2019.[2]

Whitty and two of his deputies, Jenny Harries and Jonathan Van-Tam, took high-profile roles during the COVID-19 outbreak.[17][18] This included appearing – often with prime minister Boris Johnson and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance – in televised news conferences, and giving evidence to parliamentary bodies.[3][19] From 19 March, Whitty appeared in public information adverts on national television, explaining the government's social-distancing strategy to reduce the spread of the virus during the pandemic.[19][20]

On 27 March, he was reported to be self-isolating owing to symptoms consistent with COVID-19 after Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock had tested positive for the virus.[21] On 6 April, he had reportedly returned to work having recovered from the symptoms of the virus.[22] In July, he told the Lords Science and Technology Committee that elimination of the disease in the UK would be very difficult, a view that was contested by other scientists including members of the Independent SAGE group.[23]

At a televised briefing on 12 October where the Prime Minister introduced three tiers of localised restrictions, Whitty said he was "not confident" that the measures in the highest tier would be "enough to get on top of it".[24][25] Whitty and Vallance presented updated data and forecasts at a televised briefing on 31 October, where the Prime Minister announced stricter measures for the whole of England.[26]

During the outbreak, BBC health editor Hugh Pym called him "the official who will probably have the greatest impact on our everyday lives of any individual policymaker in modern times".[19] The Guardian's sketch writer, John Crace, described him as "the Geek-in-Chief, whom everyone now regards as the country's de facto prime minister". At the same time, he was compared to James Niven, the Scottish physician known for reducing the death rate of influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic in Manchester.[27]

During the Christmas weekend of 2020, Whitty was spotted treating coronavirus patients in London. It was said he "worked the shifts in his capacity as a practising doctor [as] a consultant physician at University College London Hospitals Trust... on the north London hospital's respiratory ward over the weekend and bank holiday Monday".[28]

On 26 June 2021 a group of COVID-19 protesters demonstrated outside what appeared to be Whitty's flat in central London.[29] Earlier in the month Whitty was followed down a street by a prominent anti-vaccine activist who shouted at him for being a liar, and in February he was called a liar multiple times while waiting for a takeaway lunch at a street food stall.[30]

On 27 June, Whitty was the subject of manhandling, described by Boris Johnson as "despicable harassment", by two members of the public in St James's Park, Westminster, who filmed the event for social media.[31] The Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said such behaviour would not be tolerated and that those responsible "should be ashamed". The Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said they were "thugs" and should face charges. The Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating the incident. On 2 July a 23-year-old man from Romford, East London was charged with common assault. The man had previously apologised for any "upset" caused and said he had lost his job as an estate agent over the incident.[32] On 6 July a second man, aged 24 and of no fixed address, was charged with common assault and with obstructing the police.[33] On 30 July a man who admitted one charge of assault by beating was given an eight-week custodial sentence, suspended for two years, and a fine of £100. The trial for a second man who pleaded not guilty to the same charge commenced in December 2021, with the accused appearing by video link from his home. The trial had to be vacated until 4 January 2022, however, as he was unable to see the CCTV evidence via the video link.[34]