Just when we thought those heady days of progressive witch hunts were over, there’s yet another baffling example worth questioning. In a scarcely credible turn of events, a distinguished clinician has been removed from further involvement in the Pathways puberty blockers trial for believing in biological sex.

Jacob George, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Dundee, was earlier this year appointed chief medical and scientific officer at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). There, he has been a key figure behind the delay of the Pathways trial. He is said to have expressed reservations about the trial, which was due to start in April and would have exposed 226 children to drugs originally developed to “castrate” sex offenders.

But media outlets have reported on George’s historic tweets, in which he stated his view that sex is fixed at birth and that he has no time for “the “well-meaning idiocy” of people who claim otherwise. A few years ago, this would have been uncontroversial, akin to accepting that the Earth is round. Not anymore. As a result, he has been removed from any involvement in organizing the trial.

The proposed experiment has been widely criticized and this is exactly what should have happened, given the MHRA’s role as regulator. But Professor George has fallen foul of quasi-religious beliefs about the human body. He has challenged the central tenet of trans activism, which holds that the human body is endlessly mutable and some children supposedly “know” they are transgender.

Cathy Newman, a presenter on Sky News and Times Radio, evidently believed she’d stumbled on a major scoop. “Posts expressing gender critical views and mocking trans supporters appeared on the X account of Prof Jacob George […] who was only appointed last month,” she exclaimed excitedly on X at the end of last week. “His account has now been deleted and the MHRA told us the Prof had been recused from the trial. Stay tuned.”

Stay tuned for what? A stunning revelation that the astronomer royal doesn’t believe there are little green men on Mars? It would be much more worrying if it turned out that the regulator was taking direction from trans activists, or acting in fear of their response, instead of basing decisions that affect the public on scientific evidence.

Indeed, the MHRA may come to regret its pusillanimous reaction, which is stuffed with weasel words. “Following the identification of social media posts made prior to his appointment, Prof Jacob George is recused from further involvement on the Pathways clinical trial as a precaution,” the agency said. The “identification” of social media posts sounds like a neutral action, but who did it and why? If, as it seems, it was a journalist or journalists looking for examples of gender-critical views, the MHRA should have been fully aware that they are protected in law. And why did it need to take a “precaution”?

Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, has written to the chief executive and chair of the MHRA setting out the legal position in no uncertain terms. “This is a scandal that undermines trust in medical regulation in the UK,” she said. “It is also unlawful, contrary to your legal duty not to discriminate against or harass employees on the basis of belief.”

It certainly is. The fact that so many organizations overreact to the expression of perfectly normal beliefs is the real scandal here.

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Joan Smith is a novelist and columnist. She was previously Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board, and is on the advisory group for Sex Matters. Her book Unfortunately, She Was A Nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women was published in November 2024.

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