Science committee queries Nutt sacking

The chair of the Commons science and technology committee has asked the home secretary to explain the "sequence of events" leading the dismissal of a government adviser. Skip related content

Phil Willis posed a series of questions in a letter to Alan Johnson released yesterday.

Professor David Nutt was sacked as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) earlier this week by Johnson after he publicly criticised ministers over the classification of cannabis.

Willis has also written to Professor Nutt and Professor John Beddington, the government chief scientific adviser, to ask for their accounts and views.

In his letter to the home secretary he asks whether Professor Nutt "breached any parts of the ACMD's terms of reference" or code of practice.

He also asked why Johnson "appears to have taken the decision to remove Professor Nutt without reference to the government chief scientific adviser".

In July the science committee published a report recommending that members of scientific advisory committees "should not be criticised for publishing scientific papers or making statements as professionals, independent of their role as government advisers".

In its response to the report the government said it "agrees that the independence of science advisers is critical".