David “the awesome power of the moon” Tredinnick joins the Commons Science Committee [View all]

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/01/31/david-the-awesome-power-of-the-moon-tredinnick-joins-the-commons-science-committee/

David “the awesome power of the moon” Tredinnick joins the Commons Science Committee
By Andy McSmith
Thursday, 31 January 2013 at 5:01 pm

David Tredinnick, the long serving Tory MP for Bosworth, came to the nation’s attention for the first and last time in 1995 when his fellow MPs suspended him without pay for 20 days for being prepared to accept cash for asking parliamentary questions. He has another peculiar claim to distinction: he is an avid believe in homeopathic medicine. Five years ago, he waited patiently until almost 2 o’clock in the morning to deliver a long speech deploring the failure of the NHS to support homeopathy, which he upheld as a cure for HIV, TB, malaria, urinary infections, diarrhoea, skin eruptions, diabetes, epilepsy, eye infections, intestinal parasites, treatment from pregnancy to childbirth, cancer, gangrene, toxaemia and general injuries. The list, as he put it, “is endless.” In a previous speech, in 2001, he told MPs: ‘science has worked out that pregnancy, hangovers and visits to one’s GP may be affected by the awesome power of the moon’, to which in 2009 he added that phases of the moon influence the number of accidents, and blood clotting.

Though no Prime Minister has called Tredinnick to a ministerial post during his 26 years in the Commons, his fellow MPs have honoured him today by co-opting him to the all-party Science and technology Committee. “Their role is use science to inform policy-making. Someone with such incredibly odd views is not helpful,” said Imran Khan, head of the Campaign for Science and Engineering.