End This Bloody Disgrace

“End this bloody disgrace” was a front page that put the infected blood scandal at the heart of the national conversation, won backing across the Commons and ultimately helped secure the promise of more than £10bn in compensation for victims. It was, quite simply, a world changing front page.

The campaign was led by political editor, Caroline Wheeler; the culmination of her 23-year crusade for justice for those whose lives were destroyed by the biggest scandal in NHS history. The front page carried the black and white images of three children who were experimented on by doctors without their parents’ informed consent, infecting them with deadly diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. They included Colin Smith, one of the youngest victims, who was just seven when he died of Aids, having been used as a guinea pig by doctors at his local hospital after being diagnosed with a rare blood disorder as a baby. Thirty years later, his father told how the family never recovered from Colin’s death, or the subsequent stigma of being known as the “Aids family” in 1980s Newport – he lost his employment and his marriage to Colin’s mother collapsed.

The simple yet devastating front page was designed by design editor Russel Herneman and promoted heavily on social media where the campaign immediately gathered huge momentum. The public pressure forced ministers to spend more than £10bn on a compensation package - a decision which wiped out Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s ability to deliver further tax cuts and ultimately led to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to hold an early general election.

This month the first ten survivors were offered full compensation, averaging more than £1 million each, thanks in no small part to the impact of this front page. Twenty-five more offers are promised shortly, but with infected victims still dying at the rate of two a week, the urgency to “end this bloody disgrace” has never been greater.