the times | Tuesday September 15 2020 2GM 5
News
The diaries of the wife of a former
Conservative minister have reignited
tensions at the heart of the close-knit
clique that surrounded David Cameron
in his years as Tory leader.
Extracts from The Secret Diary of an
MP’s Wife, a memoir by Sasha Swire,
the wife of Sir Hugo Swire, which is
serialised in The Times this week, have
portrayed Mr Cameron, his wife,
A cancer expert nicknamed God
because of his pioneering work told the
daughter of a dying patient that her
father was a “very sick bunny” but that
“I am going to get him a lot better” the
month before he died.
Justin Stebbing, who is known for his
“aggressive” treatment of cancer, is
accused of failing to provide good clini-
cal care to 11 patients. This includes
allegations that he had given inappro-
priate medication to keep terminally ill
patients alive.
A Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal
Service hearing in Manchester was told
that he called a vulnerable female
patient “pet names” in text messages,
which he signed off with kisses.
One man, known as Patient G, had
Cancer expert ‘failed’ dying patients
been transferred to Professor Stebbing
in March 2016 with rapidly progressive
lung cancer, which had spread to his
glands. He told the patient’s daughter
days later that her father “was a very
sick bunny but I am going to get him a
lot better” and said that he needed
chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Sharon Beattie, counsel for the
General Medical Council, said: “The
focus of criticism relates to the escala-
tion of care against a background of un-
realistic expectations and the adminis-
tration of treatment of this patient
when he was too unwell to have it.”
Other medical staff had concerns
that the patient was not well enough to
have chemotherapy, she said.
The hearing was told that Patient G
suffered a puncture to the lung when
staff tried to insert a line and later suf-
fered respiratory deterioration. Whenasked whether chemotherapy should
still go ahead, the professor is said to
have insisted on a low dose. A member
of staff who questioned the decision
was contacted at home by Professor
Stebbing, who asked “what the hell she
was doing stopping the chemo”.
In discussions and texts Professor
Stebbing said: “He is f***ed anyway so
whether we give it or don’t, he will die.”
Ms Beattie said that the patient’s de-
teriorating condition should have led to
a reassessment of chemotherapy and
that treatment would not be supported
by a majority of other lung oncologists.
On April 3, Patient G died and his
daughter asked about the phrase where
he had said he could make her father “a
lot better”. “She said he shrugged and
told her that 40 per cent of his patients
would die, then demonstrated the ex-
tent and size of her father’s cancer”, MsBeattie said. Professor Stebbing also
sent messages to a “vulnerable” woman
with cancer, known as Patient E, with
kisses, pet names such as “honey” and
the words “I adore you”. In his defence,
experts had suggested that Professor
Stebbing was being “sympathetic” but a
letter from the patient referred to her
“emotional entanglement”.
Ms Beattie said that “so far as pet
names, these are seriously below stan-
dard” and said the communications
were “inappropriate”.
The professor of cancer medicine and
oncology at Imperial College London is
said to have directed the prescription of
an immunotherapy drug called pem-
brolizumab in 2015, when there was no
clinical and biomarker data to support
the treatment.
He continued to direct the prescrip-
tion of the drug in May 2016, despitetests showing that her illness was pro-
gressing. Ms Beattie said that opportu-
nities to discuss prognosis and life ex-
pectancy seem to have been missed,
which led to “unrealistic expectations”.
The hearing also heard that Profes-
sor Stebbing had cancelled a “do not re-
suscitate” note on Patient F, who had
lung cancer, in March 2016. He said
that her prognosis with interventions
including intubation and ventilation
may be as long as 18 months, Ms Beattie
said. The patient died within 12 days.
Patient J, a former GP, had cancer of
the oesophagus and was in a hospice.
His wife, a nurse, sought Professor
Stebbing’s opinion, who ordered im-
munotherapy, against the wishes of a
doctor at the hospice. Patient J was
given the treatment on February 28,
2017, and died on March 9.
The hearing continues.Charlotte Wace
Northern Correspondent
B
etsy Smith,
dressed in a
tweed jacket
and jodhpurs,
has the air of
an accomplished
horsewoman happier in
the saddle than on her
feet (Jack Malvern
writes).
This has been true of
her since before she
could walk. Now two,
she was first “plonked
on a pony” by her
mother, GeorgiaHibberd, as a baby and
is now the youngest
member of her local
pony club. Mrs Hibberd
said that her daughter
had wanted to ride ever
since seeing her brother,
Arley, six, riding at a
club camp. “Even
though she was only
one, she sat in her buggy
kicking her legs and
crying that she couldn’t
go on a pony,” Mrs
Hibberd said.
Betsy and Arley are aregular sight on the
roads near their home in
Calne, Wiltshire.
Mrs Hibberd, a
teacher and artist,
acknowledged that some
parents might be wary
of their children
standing on a saddle but
she liked her children to
understand risks and be
out in the open air.
“We bought our firstpony when Arley was 12
months old,” she said. “I
had always ridden and
really wanted to give my
children the opportunity
too. He has always liked
the horses, but when
Betsy came along, she
was desperate to get on
board.”
She said that both
children had received
knocks but alwayswished to return to the
saddle. “I will turn
around and find her
standing up on her
pony’s back, she’ll want
to ride backwards, and
always want to go faster
or do what Arley is
doing. She has no fear.
“Arley has started
competing in hunter
trials, and he’s starting
to jump, and Betsy isdesperate to be big
enough to go with him.”
She said that she had
received encouragement
after posting a video on
social media that
showed Betsy singing
the nursery rhyme Wind
the Bobbin Up.
“She was so relaxed
and happy, it went mad
with likes and
comments.”Both children are
members of their local
pony club, where they
and their ponies, Barney
and Honey, compete
against other children.
“The ponies seem a
little big for the children
now but there is plenty
of room for them to
grow into them. They
are already lifelong
friends so it’s nice they
will be able to grow up
with them.
“They are young but
they still have to do
chores. They have
miniature wheelbarrows
and have to come and
poo-pick the fields with
me. They both really
enjoy it though, and
they will spend hours
grooming and cuddling
their ponies.”
Her son introduced
Barney to his classmates
this year when they had
a lesson on Zoom.
“Betsy will just want
to run up and cuddle
any horse she sees — it’s
actually quite hard
stopping her. But they
are both learning so
much, and are really
quite knowledgeable
about horses and how to
care for them now, that I
wouldn’t have it any
other way.”
Sophie Dalrymple,
joint district
commissioner of the
Tedworth Hunt pony
club, said: “We’re
thrilled to have Betsy as
part of our team. We’ve
always had a lot of
young members but
none quite so young as
her.”Baby of the pony
club preferred the
saddle to her pram
Betsy Smith, the youngest
member of Tedworth Hunt
pony club, began riding
before she could walkCATERS NEWS AGENCYCameron clique bashful after book’s lurid claims of sex and booze
Patrick Maguire Red Box Reporter Samantha, and the former chancellor
George Osborne in their most intimate
moments, prompting criticism from
Sarah Vine, the wife of Michael Gove.
Writing in the Daily Mail yesterday,
Vine accused Lady Swire, the daughter
of the former defence secretary Sir
John Nott, of an “innate self-confi-
dence and complete inability to self-
censor” and described the book as “cal-
culating” and “disturbing”.
Passages published in this newspaper
depict the former prime minister,
chummily referred to as “Dave”, swear-
ing freely in private moments at Che-
quers and drinking heavily on family
holidays to Cornwall. In one vignette,
Lady Swire claims that Mr Cameron in-
sisted that she walk behind him on a
coastal walk on the grounds that “that
scent you are wearing... makes me
want to grab you and push you into the
bushes and give you one!”
In the latest extracts today, LadySwire recalls the painful aftermath of
the EU referendum result that cost Mr
Cameron his premiership.
She recalls him “chomping on cigars”
over “endless bottles of wine” at his Ox-
fordshire home in the weekend after
the Brexit vote, “incandescent with an-
ger” at Mr Gove and Boris Johnson, his
eventual successor.
Mrs Cameron, she claims, was only
able to join her husband for his resigna-
tion speech after a large Negroni.“When they walked back inside, Dave
apparently recoiled at her gin-sodden
breath,” she writes.
Associates of Mr Cameron described
the extracts as “an act of social suicide”
and “baffling”, Vine wrote. Another
characterised the book as an attempt to
avenge Sir Hugo’s omission from Mr
Cameron’s cabinets. The Camerons
and Mr Osborne declined to comment.
Extract, Times
Hugo Rifkind, page 25