Purge of Experts Continues

Clegg's reputation safe as clarification-monger sacked

The Government's crackdown on expertism has continued with the sacking of an independent adviser who maliciously questioned whether Nick Clegg had told the truth or not.

Clegg, whose word is his bond except when it isn't, announced £400m for improving access to psychological "talking therapies" last week.

Professor David Richards, of the University of Exeter, implied that the money would not be additional and might end up being used to plug whatever gaps in the NHS are causing the worst headlines.

Richards claimed to be "asking for clarification", on the transparently malignant grounds that he had been told at a meeting that the money would come from the existing NHS budget.

Richards' sacking is quite different from the sacking of Professor David Nutt, who was fired by the Labour home secretary, Alan Johnson, for allowing scientific evidence to contradict both Government policy and tabloid hysteria.

Unlike Nutt, Richards has not been sacked for questioning Government policy, but for implying that another of Nick Clegg's pledges might turn out to be just another Nick Clegg pledge.