Boss of drug firm behind cervical cancer jabs for schoolgirls is on board of Ofsted

Paul Blackburn, a senior vice president at GlaxoSmithKline, has been appointed to the board of Ofsted Schools Secretary Ed Balls is at the centre of a controversy over the appointment of a top executive with a drugs company to the board of education watchdog Ofsted. Paul Blackburn, 53, is a senior vice-president at GlaxoSmithKline, which is being sued by hundreds of parents and patients who claim its drugs have caused suicide and psychosis. His appointment came two weeks before the company won a reported £100million contract to vaccinate all schoolgirls of 12 and 13 against the sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer. Family campaigners argued that the jabs would ‘normalise’ childhood sex. Mr Blackburn’s new role has been met with such disquiet that one childcare expert boycotted an Ofsted conference on Friday,... [read full story]