In the Queens Birthday Honours list of 2020 Isle of Man Health Minister David Ashford was awarded an MBE for his performance and leadership as Health Minister during the pandemic. However subsequently an employment tribunal into the dismissal of Dr Rosalind Ranson, Medical Director for the IOMs version of the NHS, has published a 202 page report into the way Dr Ranson was ostracized, bullied, and eventually dismissed which records that as a witness Mr Ashford was “practised and diplomatic seemingly guided by the principle of deniability of anything potentially inconvenient unless/until objective evidence was available to the contrary.”

The tribunal also established that Dr Ranson had advised right at the start of the pandemic that the IOM should not slavishly follow Public Health Englands guidance and (as an Island) should lock down early. The tribunal established that Dr Ranson was bullied and sidelined by the management chain (which as Minister Mr Ashford was at the top of) as a result of her advice. It’s also been suggested that failing to lockdown earlier potentially resulted in a higher coviddeath toll in the IOM. Should Mr Ashford hand back his MBE on the basis that it is now clear that his leadership role during the pandemic is somewhat different to what it was believed to be in 2020?