Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was neurotic about become too associated with AIDS during the early health campaign, her former health secretary has said.
Lord Norman Fowler said that while Thatcher was empathetic to those who had the disease and had a good appreciation of the science, she had “no great sympathy for the subject… I don’t think AIDS actually appears in her autobiography.”
Lord Fowler was interviewed by The National HIV Story Trust (NHST) to add to an archive of more than 100 testimonies from those whose lives were affected by the health crisis in the 1980s and 90s.
The former health secretary signed off the famous Don’t Die of Ignorance public health campaign which was pivotal in the fight against HIV.
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He addressed criticisms that the tombstone imagery, which was central to one of the adverts, was overly dramatic and re-enforced the fear and stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS.
He said: "I do not apologise remotely for that.
"In order to save lives “You needed the attention of the public, and we got the attention of the public – no question about that.”
Lord Fowler also said of Margaret Thatcher: “She and her party chairman, Norman Tebbit, they were both neurotic about getting too associated with this [AIDS] and too associated sometimes with the people in it.”
Lord Fowler was Secretary of State for Health and Social Services under Margaret Thatcher between 1981 and 1987. He is now Lord Speaker.
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The Department of Health launched the ‘Don’t aid AIDS’ campaign in 1986, which is remembered for the stark tombstone TV advert and 'Don't die of Ignorance' leaflets, which were distributed to homes.
In a previous interview Lord Fowler said: "I first heard about Aids as a serious issue in 1985.
"I didn’t know much about gay culture at the time; I didn’t have any gay friends.
"But the attacks on gay people motivated me.
"Some people thought anyone with HIV should be left to their own fate, and there were certainly people in government who felt uneasy about homosexuality. I thought – this is unjust.
"We had no knowledge of this disease and no drugs with which to treat it.
"I was reading a note the other day from the chief medical officer at the time and some of the predictions as to what could happen were terrifying – we were talking millions and millions of people becoming infected.
"That’s why we launched what is still the biggest public health campaign there’s ever been in this country with leaflets sent out to every home."
He said that Margaret Thatcher, who died in 2013, 'wasn't a natural supporter' of the campaign adding: She had the view that if you told young people about HIV and unprotected sex, you’d be telling them about things they didn’t know about.'
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The NHST is marking LGBT+ History Month by sharing clips from the interview and others from its collection on their social media channels and plans to make a feature length documentary about the pandemic.
Paul Coleman, founder of the NHST, said: "We’ve spoken to all kinds of people whose lives were affected by the AIDS pandemic - men, women, gay, straight, trans, black, white - and heard about the effect of this campaign on them, both positive and negative.
“To hear directly from its architect, Lord Fowler, adds a whole new dimension to our archive and ensures that we really are preserving all elements of history from this time.
"It was also fascinating to hear first hand what Lord Fowler’s thinking was at the time."
The Scottish Government announced a new plan in December which it hopes will lead to HIV being eliminated within the next decade. It includes free condom provision, widening access to medication which prevents HIV, increasing testing capacity and introducing measures to prevent people sharing needles.
A new online service which allows people to request virus tests at home has also been handed £377,000.
Last year there were 5,617 people in Scotland diagnosed and living with HIV.
New research led by Glasgow Caledonian University, which was published last week, found there has been a 20 per cent reduction in new HIV diagnoses since the preventative treatment PrEP was introduced in July 2017
HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed almost 33 million lives so far.
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