Johnson lost confidence in adviser

Home secretary Alan Johnson said that he had "lost confidence" in government drug adviser Professor David Nutt in his role as principal adviser on drugs policy. Skip related content

In response to an urgent question, Johnson told the Commons that he had asked Professor Nutt to resign because his role was to "advise rather than criticise" government policy.

But he noted the "invaluable work" of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and insisted the dismissal was not a reflection of their work, and that he would be meeting with other members "shortly".

He said the comments had been made without prior notice to the Home Office and had breached guidelines.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the decision made by the home secretary had been the right one".

Independent advice, he said, was important, and that issues being dealt with by the council were "highly sensitive", and that therefore those who take on formal roles have to be extremely cautious about the comments made.

"Prof Nutt's comments earlier this year comparing the risks of ecstasy with horseriding were, I thought, particularly ill-judged," he said.

However, Grayling said he found it "very surprising" that after the issue first arose, an inadequate effort had been made by the government on how to deal with the work of the ACMD.

He added: "There appears to be a complete breakdown of confidence between the home secretary and his advisers."

Johnson stated that last February, upon the publication of the government's position on the classification of ecstasy, Professor Nutt had published an article on the issue.

He had expressed the view that horseriding was more dangerous than ecstasy.

"On Thursday October 29 Prof Nutt chose, without prior notification to my department, to initiate a debate on drugs policy in the national media, returning to the February decisions, and accusing my predecessor or distorting and devaluing scientific research, he stated.

"As a result, I have lost confidence in Prof Nutt's ability to be my principal adviser on drugs."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that both parties had "missed the point".

And he accused the Tory spokesman of being in danger of being the home secretary's "mini-me".

"The government does not want evidence and the official opposition wants even less evidence even more quickly," he said.