Five whistleblowers: the 2024 contrarian prize shortlist | thearticle

If death and taxation are inevitable, so is wrongdoing and C within institutions. The Post Office scandal and the Grenfell Tower tragedy are two cases in point. The former saw 900

sub-postmasters prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from an errant computer system which sullied their names, destroyed families, ruined careers and cost lives. The

report into Grenfell revealed a string of failures across both government and the private sector, resulting in a tower block becoming a death trap which cost 72 lives. The principal-agent

problem is a familiar one. One party, the “agent”, takes actions on behalf of another person or group, the “principal”, which are driven purely by self-interest and are inimical to the

interests of the principal. However, what we have seen too often in recent years is the reverse of this. The agent stands for righteousness, alone, against the collective objectives of the

larger group.  The inaugural winner of the Contrarian Prize in 2012, Michael Woodford, is a clear example. He was the President and CEO of the Japanese electronics behemoth, Olympus, until

he was summarily fired for trying to investigate a $1.7 billion fraud within the company. The Contrarian Prize recognises the independence, courage and sacrifice of British public figures

whose ideas challenge the status quo. It is disturbing that over a decade after it was first awarded, all five nominees shortlisted for the 2024 Contrarian Prize are whistleblowers.    

Group Captain ELIZABETH NICHOLL , former Head of Royal Air Force recruitment, resigned in protest at an order to pause the selection of white male recruits onto training courses in favour of

women and ethnic minorities to hit diversity targets. She emailed her bosses saying, “This is unlawful. I am not prepared to delegate or abdicate the responsibility of actioning that order

to my staff.” A non-statutory inquiry report found that the demand amounted to illegal positive discrimination and concluded that the “chain of command’s reaction to her concerns was overly

defensive”. It found that prior to Nicholl’s appointment, the RAF fast-tracked 161 ethnic minority and female candidates ahead of “useless white male pilots”. The incoming Air Chief

Marshall, Sir Richard Knighton, apologised and accepted that the report made “uncomfortable reading”.  DAVID NEAL was dismissed as the independent Chief Inspector of borders and immigration,

after leaking information about alleged security failures by the Border Force to check the occupants of hundreds of private jets classified as “high risk”. He described it as a scandal and

incredibly dangerous for this country’s border security. He also criticised the Home Office for failing to publish 15 of his inspection reports while he was in post, claiming that civil

servants had attempted to censor them. Pointing to “shocking leadership” at the top of the Home Office, he asserted that he was removed “for doing his job”.  The former Greater Manchester

Police detective MAGGIE OLIVER resigned from the force in 2012 in disgust over its neglect in handling the grooming scandal over young girls in Rochdale, having battled for 18 months

internally without success. She then established a foundation and dedicated her life to supporting the victims. A report commissioned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester published in January

2024, covering the period 2004 to 2013, set out multiple failed investigations by the police and apparent indifference to the plight of mainly white girls from poor backgrounds. Oliver

stated that young people were still being abused in the town and that victims were living in fear, as abusers walk the streets and a number defy court orders to return to Pakistan.   STEPHEN

CRESSWELL, an infrastructure cost forecasting expert, risked his livelihood to highlight a scandal at HS2. In his view, senior managers at HS2 had ordered staff to deliberately cover up the

escalating costs of its high-speed line, in order to ensure that politicians would continue to pump billions of pounds of public money into the project. He claims that “costs, risks,

timescales and benefits [were] being manipulated to suit individuals or organisational goals rather than the public interest”. He felt compelled to speak out as “you have to live by your

values” and didn’t want a career “based on helping fraudsters”. His contract was not renewed by HS2. The distinguished psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, DAVID BELL, was the first clinician to

expose the activities of the gender identity development service (GIDS) dealing with children, at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation trust, where he worked in adult services.  He wrote

a report in 2018 having been alerted by 10 members of GIDS staff who brought their serious concerns to him as a staff governor. He argued that children were being inappropriately prescribed

puberty blockers without proper clinical evaluation (sometimes after just two appointments) as the service had been “captured by trans ideology”. He pointed out that these individuals

(mainly girls), had been being very seriously and irreversibly damaged by having been inappropriately placed in the pathway to gender transition. He was stonewalled and claims the trust

tried to silence him. He persevered and his report was an important factor leading to the Hilary Cass review published in April 2024. It found weak evidence on treatments such as puberty

blockers and that gender medicine was operating on “shaky foundations” vindicating Dr Bell. The service was closed and the treatment model ended. All of the shortlisted candidates who have

been nominated by the public and selected by a panel of judges, lay bare the Kafkaesque-nature of a number of our leading institutions. For a handful of individuals to put their conscience

ahead of their career and to challenge the tyranny of the majority is more than admirable, it is essential. That they have had to do so is lamentable. It would be much easier for them to

have kept their heads down. But they are driven by something bigger than themselves. They are contrarians.   _ The winner will be announced at the Contrarian Prize ceremony on 23 October by

the Times Radio presenter Adam Boulton. _ A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one

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