Mick Hartley

It's always the way. Unions attract the ideologically committed – and there's no better example than the BMA. Jawad Iqbal in the Times:

A staggering one in ten motions on the agenda at the annual conference of the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’ trade union, are about the Israel-Gaza conflict. No wonder the union has gained an unenviable reputation as a home for campaigners pushing a political agenda that has little to do with the day job of practising medicine. In total, 467 motions have been put forward for debate at the meeting this week in Liverpool — 45 relate to Israel or Palestine.

One motion claims that Israel is establishing a “system of apartheid”. Another calls on the BMA to support doctors who refuse to pay their taxes because the UK government is “complicit in genocide”. If union members vote in favour of the motions, they are adopted as official policy. So what? The Middle East crisis is not going to be resolved by a vote at the BMA conference.

Another item up for debate is a call for a boycott of Israeli medical institutions and universities, arguing for Israel to be treated similarly to the “South African apartheid regime”. How a doctor might go about explaining to a patient that they were being denied lifesaving treatment because the medical breakthrough came from Israel is not clear. Real world problems don’t bother those who inhabit the fantasy universe of BMA activists.

Then there’s the motion calling for medical students and doctors who hold pro-Palestine protests or display Palestinian symbols to be spared any disciplinary action or “punitive measures”. This follows attempts by NHS trusts to prohibit staff from wearing shirts or badges in support of Palestine in NHS hospitals. What are patients — and not just Jewish patients — to make of this? Hospital wards and GP surgeries are no place for staff to parade their political leanings.

The bigger problem with this juvenile politicking is that it comes at a time when the NHS faces huge challenges, due to staff shortages, financial pressures and the increasing demands of an ageing population. These are issues people really want to hear about from doctors. It would be welcome if medics stayed focused on the day job, which is to look after their patients.

The same advice goes for the doctors’ union: its core job is to represent its members on pay and working conditions. International politics is not part of the remit. The witless campaigning of a hard core of BMA activists obsessed with taking a public stance on Gaza runs the risk of alienating the wider public, and for little discernible gain or purpose. The BMA needs to get its house in order.

They could make a start by dealing with accusations of antisemitism in the BMA's leadership:

The British Medical Association has been accused of a cover-up after terminating an antisemitism complaint about its president despite an external review’s finding of a case to answer.

Mary McCarthy, a leading GP, was accused of creating a “hostile environment” for Jewish doctors by using her account on X to share provocative posts focusing on the conflict in Gaza.

The Times understands that the BMA appointed an external lawyer to carry out an independent review of the complaint made by Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS).

It concluded that McCarthy had a case to answer for a potential breach of the BMA’s code. The review found that she had a duty to be representative of the BMA’s membership but had posted one view of the conflict in the Middle East.

Alex Hearn, from LAAS, who made the complaint, was told four months ago that a resolution panel would be set up. However, he was then informed that according to the BMA’s articles and bylaws, only its own members and staff could make complaints. As a result, his complaint would not proceed any further, the BMA said.

What a surprise.

Hearn said that the BMA had dragged its feet since the findings of the external review and “now, at the very last moment, has orchestrated a shameful cover-up to stop the case going ahead”.

He went on: “The BMA’s leadership should hang their heads in shame. Their refusal to investigate concerns of anti-Jewish racism at the very top of their organisation suggests that there is indeed a systemic problem. What message does this send to Jewish doctors and, ultimately, to Jewish patients?”