Activist doctor opposed to puberty blocker ban now head of BMA

Telegraph

27-06-2025

An activist doctor who spearheaded the British Medical Association's opposition to a ban on puberty blockers for children has been elected as its leader.
Dr Tom Dolphin tabled the 'emergency motion' in July last year that led to the union rejecting the findings of the Cass Review into children's gender services.
The union was later pressured by its members to backtrack to a 'neutral' stance, and announced that it would conduct its own evaluation of the Cass Review by the end of last year, though it has yet to publish anything.
Lady Cass spent more than four years on the study, which reviewed data from 113,000 children. She recommended a ban on prescribing sex hormones outside of clinical trials to children who question their gender.
The BMA's council bypassed debate to reject the Cass Review after it ran out of time to discuss the motion at the annual meeting. The union has since shunned four attempts by members to have an open debate on the review this year.
More than 1,500 doctors, the majority of them BMA members, have since signed a 'Not in Our Name' open letter to the union, criticising the 'very undemocratic' decision to reject Lady Cass's findings.
The council, which consists of 69 members, this week ousted Prof Philip Banfield, the sitting chairman, and replaced him with Dr Dolphin.
Dr Dolphin, an anaesthetic consultant who lives in London, has campaigned for Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent Central and Brent South. He has been a member of BMA council since 2012 and is the chairman of his hospital trust's local negotiating committee, which represents and negotiates for doctors at employer-level.
'Trans rights are human rights'
In July 2022, he posted photos of himself getting ready for a Trans Pride march, saying: 'About to set off to let London know that trans rights are human rights!'
Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, said Dr Dolphin's election 'shows how gender ideology breaks previously respectable organisations'.
She told The Telegraph: 'The Cass Review is a comprehensive, evidence-based report on so-called gender medicine for children by an independent paediatrician with impeccable credentials.
'Creating doubt around it without robust evidence is irresponsible, misleading, and not in the best interests of patients.
'We've said before that the trans activist doctors at the BMA are an embarrassment to their profession. Their false assertions about biology can be disproven with primary school science.
'Giving them this level of credibility could have serious consequences for the health and well-being of vulnerable children and young adults.'
Dr Louise Irvine, a former BMA council member who co-chairs the Clinical Advisory Group on Sex and Gender, has criticised a 'culture of secrecy' around the review and said 'ideologues' had infiltrated senior positions in the union.
She said doctors were 'very angry that they were not consulted' and 'appalled by the ridiculous knee-jerk and uninformed reaction of the BMA council'.
'There has been terrible secrecy all the way along. It reflects a deeper malaise within the BMA. It is no longer a democratic organisation,' she said, adding: 'Motions relating to Cass have never been picked for debate. They are trying to avoid this, because of the ideology of a small group within the BMA that has got into quite a powerful position.'
A BMA spokesperson said: 'The BMA is a trade union and professional association with a proud history of advocating for doctors, health services and the health of the population. We are not a single-issue organisation.
'Dr Dolphin is a longstanding BMA elected member, who is widely respected by our members, underlined by his recent election as chair of council. He has been actively involved in the BMA for more than 20 years, during which time he has held multiple leadership positions and worked on a multitude of medico-political issues.
'He has sat on BMA council since 2012, and council members have now elected Dr Dolphin to lead the BMA on a huge range of issues across its wide remit as both a trade union and professional association.'