title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Abderrahmane Meziane Chérif, the Minister of the Interior of Algeria, came to the airport control tower to begin negotiating with the hijackers, who were using the captain to speak for them. They demanded the release of two Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) political party leaders, Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj, who were under house arrest; the FIS was banned in Algeria in 1992. Chérif demanded that the hijackers begin releasing children and the elderly if they wanted to talk to the Algerian government. The media began arriving at the airport to cover the crisis.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: At noon, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppé, organised a crisis team meeting (similar to UK’s COBRA emergency crisis meeting), and Charles Pasqua, Interior Minister of France, met his aides. French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur was recalled from his Christmas holiday in Chamonix, France, and other government officials were also summoned from their vacations. Balladur recollected spending the entire afternoon on the telephone, trying to determine what was happening and feeling confused. According to Balladur, the Algerian authorities wanted to crack down on the terrorists and Balladur himself encountered difficulties discussing the events. At one point, the hijackers dropped the demand for the release of the FIS party leaders. Two hours into the hijacking, the men told the captain to depart for Paris so that they could hold a press conference there. The captain could not take off because the aircraft boarding stairs were still attached to the plane and the Algerian authorities were blocking the runway with parked vehicles. When the hijackers forced the captain to ask for the boarding stairs to be removed, the Algerian authorities refused, determined not to give in to any of the hijackers' demands. The GIA men announced that they would detonate the aircraft unless the Algerian authorities followed their orders.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: During the passport check, the hijackers had noticed that one of the passengers on the flight was an Algerian police officer. In order to force the Algerian government to comply with their demands, the hijackers approached the police officer and told him to follow them. Kakachi remembered that the police officer, seated two rows behind her, was hesitant as he did not know what they were going to do. Several passengers recalled him pleading "Don't kill me, I have a wife and child!" The hijackers shot the police officer in the head at the top of the boarding stairs. The pilots and most of the passengers were not aware at first that the man had been killed. Captain Delhemme recalled that his first contact with the passenger cabin during the hijacking was when a flight attendant, allowed into the cockpit, asked the pilots if they needed anything. According to Delhemme, he asked for a glass of water from the attendant to ease the pilots' parched throats. At this point, the attendant whispered to Delhemme that the hijackers had killed a passenger.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The Algerian authorities still refused to agree to the hijackers' demands. Burgniard recalled that he and the other occupants began to realise that "things were going wrong" when the hijackers came to collect another passenger. They selected 48-year-old Bui Giang To, a commercial attaché at the Embassy of Vietnam in Algeria. Burgniard described To as "the real foreigner on this plane". She remembered that To was not intimidated by the hijackers and she believed that this attitude upset the hijackers. The Vietnamese diplomat may have thought he was about to be released because he was a foreigner; instead he was shot dead on the boarding stairs. Delhemme recalled that when the flight attendant next appeared with refreshments, she whispered to him that two passengers, not one, had died.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The French government wanted to bring French military personnel into Algeria to safely resolve the hijacking, but the Algerian government would not allow foreign military to land on Algerian soil to resolve an Algerian political crisis. Prime Minister Balladur said that he asked the Algerian government "extremely forcefully and urgently" to give permission for the aircraft to take off. He felt that the French government held responsibility for solving the problem as the aircraft belonged to a French airline and almost a third of the passengers were French.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Seven hours into the hijacking, the cabin was calm but tense; at that point, few of the passengers knew that two people had been killed. It had grown dark outside and the aircraft was surrounded by spotlights. The pilots now attempted to defuse the situation by talking to the hijackers and trying to gain their trust. Delhemme explained that the beginning of a hijacking is violent, so the role of the pilot is to keep the participants calm, "buy time", show the hijackers who the crew are as people, and find out details about the hijackers; then the pilot has to try gaining the trust of the hijackers.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: During the night, Spanish authorities allowed the French military to send its forces to Majorca, Spain, which was as close to Algeria as was possible without being accused of interfering in the situation. At 8:00p.m., Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN) operatives boarded an Airbus A300 aircraft similar to F-GBEC, the hijacked plane, at a military base in France. En route to Majorca, the GIGN operatives were able to familiarise themselves with the A300 in preparation for storming the aircraft. After the GIGN's plane arrived at Palma de Mallorca Airport, the Algerian government made it clear that French forces were not welcome in Algeria.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Captain Delhemme made a tour of the cabin at about 2:00a.m. the next morning to check on the situation; he said that the cabin was "calm" during that time. He noticed two of the hijackers asleep on the floor. In the morning, French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur flew to Paris.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The hijackers released some of the passengers, mainly women with young children and those with severe medical conditions. Over 170 people still remained on board the plane. The hijackers offered to release the remaining Algerian passengers, but the Algerians refused to leave the aircraft. Delhemme recalled that one passenger who was refusing to leave said that he thought the crew would be killed if he did, and Delhemme believes that the passengers' motives were sincere. By the end of 25 December, the hijackers had freed a total of 63 passengers.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The Algerian police used night vision devices to identify the lead hijacker, who was Abdul Abdullah Yahia. The French government sent Yahia's mother to plead for him to release the passengers, in the hope that she could persuade her son to give in, but the tactic backfired. One passenger, Kakachi, recalled Yahia becoming enraged by this move. At this point, the hijackers began targeting the French passengers; there were two staff members of the French Embassy in Algiers on board the flight, a secretary and a chef. The hijackers forced the chef, Yannick Beugnet, to plead into the microphone. Through Beugnet, they demanded that unless the Algerian government cleared the A300 for takeoff before 9:30p.m., they would kill one passenger every 30 minutes, starting with Beugnet. They threatened to shoot him and throw him out of the door. The Algerian passengers assured him that the hijackers were bluffing while the French passengers were demanding that the aircraft be allowed to take off. When the 9:30p.m. deadline passed, the hijackers shot the chef and threw his body outside. The door open warning light in the cockpit indicated to the pilots that another passenger had been murdered. Enraged, Captain Delhemme yelled at the Algerian authorities, "See what you get when you play tough?!" The airline knew that the chef had been murdered as it was listening in on the conversations between the aircraft and the control tower. Philippe Legorjus, a former Air France security adviser, said in an interview that the airline employees "lived through [the event] with great emotion". Zahida Kakachi recalled Lotfi calmly trying to convert her and another stewardess to Islam, though Kakachi was only pretending so that she would not enrage him.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The French government were informed of the events. Balladur spoke on the telephone to the Prime Minister of Algeria, Mokdad Sifi; he told him that the French government would hold the Algerian government responsible for the outcome if it did not authorise them to intervene in the situation. Just before midnight, Balladur told the President of Algeria, Liamine Zéroual, that France was ready to receive the Air France flight. As a result of Balladur's demands, 39 hours after the start of the hijacking, Zéroual allowed the aircraft to leave Algiers. Flight attendant Claude Burgniard recalled that everyone was relieved when the aircraft departed because they thought the crisis was over.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: There was insufficient fuel on board the plane to reach Paris, because the auxiliary power unit had been running since the hijackers took over the plane, so a refuelling stop was scheduled at Marseille Provence Airport. Delhemme confronted Yahia to find out whether he planned to blow up the aircraft between Algiers and Marseille. Yahia insisted that the plane would fly to Marseille, take on fuel, then fly to Paris for the press conference; reassured, Delhemme prepared for takeoff. In an interview, Delhemme suggested that the hijackers would probably have said this anyway to prevent the crew from taking action against them. Burgniard recalled that the hijackers, in the cockpit, seemed excited and "like kids".


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The aircraft approached Marseille during the early hours of 26 December. The hijackers did not know that Major Denis Favier's GIGN squad was already in Marseille, having flown from Majorca to a military base near Marseille, and planned to storm the aircraft while it was in Marseille. The GIGN squad practised entering the A300 before Flight 8969 arrived in Marseille. Favier explained in an interview that the enemy was arriving in friendly territory, and the power difference would be a key element in the struggle. Flight 8969 landed at 3:33a.m.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Steward Claude Burgniard said that the hijackers felt that the landing in Marseille was a "magic moment" as they had arrived in France. Burgniard recalled that the airport was dark and that she only saw the lights of the A300 and a car that the A300 followed. The French authorities deliberately led the aircraft away from the terminal and into a remote corner of the airport. By 26 December, the French government had received information stating that the hijackers had planned to attack Paris. Favier planned to appear conciliatory and prolong the negotiations as long as possible. He believed that the hijackers were tired, so he planned to wear them down. Alain Gehin, the Chief of Police of Marseille, spoke to the group of hijackers in the control tower. Gehin implemented Favier's strategy.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: While using Delhemme to speak for them, the hijackers asked for 27 tons of fuel; the aircraft needed approximately 9 tons to fly to Paris from Marseille. The request indicated to the French authorities that the aircraft was going to be used as a firebomb or to fly the aircraft to an Islamic country sympathetic to the hijackers' cause. Hours later, the authorities received word of the firebomb plot. Passengers who were released in Algiers stated that the A300 had been rigged with explosives. Demolition experts determined that the plane was likely rigged in a way that would cause it to explode. Charles Pasqua said in an interview that the French government had decided that the aircraft was not going to leave Marseille, regardless of the consequences.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: At around 8:00a.m., the hijackers demanded that the forces let the aircraft take off by 9:40a.m. The negotiators delayed the ultimatum by giving the aircraft additional food and water, emptying the toilet tanks, and providing vacuum cleaners. The GIGN operatives servicing the aircraft were disguised as airport personnel. They discovered the aircraft doors were not blocked or booby trapped. The men planted eavesdropping devices while others trained long-range "cannon" microphones on the A300's fuselage and windows. Favier's group asked the hijackers if they would rather do a press conference in Marseille instead of Paris, since all of the major media outlets had offices in Marseille. The hijackers agreed to hold a press conference on the A300. The negotiators requested that the front of the aircraft be cleared for the press conference. This was to create an area for the GIGN during the storming of the aircraft. Favier explained in an interview that the press conference was an important tactic as it allowed the passengers to be moved to the rear of the aircraft. The hijackers did not realise that the doors of the A300 could be opened from the outside.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Twelve hours after the A300 arrived at Marseille, the GIGN knew how many hijackers were on board and their location on the aircraft with the help of eavesdropping devices, infrared vision equipment, and "cannon" microphones. It intended to wait until sunset to take advantage of the darkness. The occupants of the aircraft were unaware of the GIGN's true motives, and the militants were confused about why the press had not yet arrived. Yahia, frustrated by the absence of the press and sensing the authorities were up to something, ordered the pilot to move the aircraft. Delhemme parked the aircraft at the foot of the airport control tower and in close proximity to the terminal and other aircraft. An explosion in this position would result in many more casualties than in the earlier, remote location.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: This was a tactical disadvantage for the GIGN; the positions were based on the aircraft being parked where the French authorities ordered the placement of the A300. When the aircraft moved, the GIGN had to quickly reorganise its forces. Favier placed snipers on the roof so they would have a view of the cockpit. He organised a group of thirty men with three passenger boarding stairs to rush the aircraft and take it over. Favier planned to have two teams, each with 11 people, open the rear left and rear right doors of the A300. A third team of eight would open the front right door. The forces planned to isolate the cockpit, with Yahia, from the rest of the aircraft.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: By 5:00p.m., the authorities had not delivered any amount of fuel to the A300. Yahia entered the cabin to choose a fourth person to kill. He selected the youngest member of the Air France crew, who had told the hijackers that he was an atheist. Yahia felt reluctant to kill a fourth passenger at that point, saying "I don't want to do this. But I have no choice." Burgniard stated in an interview that she did not know whether Yahia had decided not to execute the crew member; she knew that he kept delaying the execution. Instead, the hijackers opened the door and fired around the aircraft. Zahida Kakachi, a passenger, recalled that the hijackers began reciting verses from the Quran on the public address system. The verses were prayers for the dead. According to Kakachi, the passengers were silent and began to feel panicked. The hijackers knew the negotiators were in the control tower, so through the side window of the cockpit, they began to fire automatic machine guns towards the control tower. Philippe Legorjus, who at the time was the airline's security adviser, recalled that glass shattered all around the negotiators. Captain Delhemme said that throughout the time in Marseille, there had been tension, but "nothing like what seemed to be about to happen". Balladur allowed Favier to take whatever actions he felt were necessary; after the hijackers fired at the control tower, Favier decided to begin the raid.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Once the hijackers noticed the boarding stairs moving towards them, they recognised the imminent assault. Through the cockpit window, a hijacker fired upon the stairs containing the forward GIGN team. As the first stairs reached the front starboard (right) door, it became apparent that it was elevated too high relative to the door frame for a uniform entry into the aircraft. The GIGN had trained on an empty aircraft, in which the suspension system of the plane was not as compressed, leading to an overestimation of the necessary height of the boarding stairs. After a short delay in repositioning the stairs, GIGN forces were able to enter. The hijackers returned fire, attacking the GIGN forces. One hijacker was killed instantly. Then, the two other units entered the rear of the aircraft. The participants fired hundreds of bullets. The hijackers fired through the skin of the aircraft. Grenades erupted and smoke went through the cabin. The GIGN's concussion grenades temporarily blinded and deafened occupants, allowing the GIGN to storm the aircraft. One of the hijackers' homemade grenades detonated, causing limited damage. The snipers on the tower could not initially get a clear shot into the aircraft as the copilot, Jean-Paul Borderie, blocked their view. Moments later, Borderie pulled himself out of the cockpit window and dropped to the ground. With the view unobstructed, the snipers began firing into the cockpit, while the GIGN evacuated passengers in the rear of the aircraft.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Flight attendant Claude Burgniard described the firefight as "the apocalypse". Christophe Morin, a flight attendant, recalled that the GIGN ordered passengers and crew to get down as low as possible with their hands over their heads, hide, and then to not move. Morin described the situation as "violent". He recalled putting his overcoat over his head so he would not see the tracer bullets and other occurrences during the raid. Morin said that he tried to help a female passenger next to him escape, but she was too large and Morin was unable to move her, so the two held hands. Pilot Bernard Delhemme said that he was in "a rather bad spot", so he crouched and made himself "as small as possible".


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: A few minutes after the beginning of the assault, most of the passengers had escaped. At that point, three of the four hijackers were fatally shot. Delhemme recalled that the cockpit only had himself, the flight engineer, and the last hijacker. Delhemme said that the hijacker could have killed him and his colleagues out of spite, but did not. In an interview, Denis Favier explained that there likely was a mutual recognition and "respect" between the hijackers and the hostages. He believes the bonds between the hijackers and hostages helped save lives of passengers and crew in the conflict.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: GIGN commando Philippe Bardelli was leading a column up the front right stairs, as that team was tasked with throwing stun grenades in the cockpit, when a 7.62 × 39 mm bullet from an AK-47 hit his drawn pistol and detonated the cartridges; Bardelli later remarked that his pistol which was hit saved his life since such AK-47 rounds were able to penetrate the GIGN's helmet visors. The remaining hijacker kept the GIGN at bay for 20 minutes, but he eventually ran out of ammunition and died from a gunshot wound. Meanwhile, the GIGN operatives were not sure which men were the hijackers and how many were still alive, so they considered all male passengers as potentially being hijackers. The flight engineer, Alain Bossuat, radioed the tower stating that the hijackers were dead and that there were no more left. This signaled to GIGN forces that a final clearing of the A300 could begin. Delhemme said that when the forces entered the aircraft, they ordered him to put his hands on his head. Delhemme said that, after the hijacking ordeal had run its course, he refused to leave with his hands on his head and be "punished like a child". Burgniard said that when she saw Bossuat handcuffed, the cabin crew told the forces to let him go as the individual was the flight engineer. At 5:35p.m., Favier radioed to the tower that the incident was over; the incident had unfolded over 54 hours.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: All of the hijackers had been killed. The remaining passengers and crew survived the 20-minute gun battle. Of the remaining passengers, 13 received minor injuries. Nine of the 30 GIGN operatives received injuries; of them, one received serious wounds. Three crew members received injuries. Delhemme was hit by bullets in his right elbow and thigh. Bossuat received minor injuries; the dead bodies of two hijackers had shielded Delhemme and Bossuat from gunfire. Borderie, the most seriously injured, fractured his elbow and thigh from the 5-metre (16 ft) drop. Favier said that he determined that the operation was a success since none of the GIGN received fatal injuries. French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur said that the events unfolded "exceptionally well".


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: As a result of the damage to the aircraft, the A300 was written off. Several hours after the incident ended, the Armed Islamic Group, which had claimed responsibility for the event, killed four Roman Catholic priests in retaliation in Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria. Three of the priests were French, while one was Belgian.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: The crew of the A300 and the GIGN forces received high national honours. Charles Pasqua, then the Minister of the Interior, said that throughout the ordeal the crew "rose to the occasion". Bernard Delhemme returned to flying and worked for Air France for nine years before retiring. Flight attendant Claude Burgniard said that she "kept seeing the faces" of the three passengers who had been executed; when she received her medal she realised that she had helped save 173 people; this allowed her to mourn and get over the incident. Burgniard said that she does not wear the medal, but that she felt like she deserved it. Burgniard, who also received a message of thanks from the airline, never again worked for Air France. Flight attendant Christophe Morin stopped working for Air France and began to work for a charitable organisation.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: A former militant group leader admitted that the men had planned to detonate the aircraft over the Eiffel Tower. The militant group never again attempted this plot. Pasqua said that if the militants crashed an aircraft on the Eiffel Tower or the Élysée Palace, they would have committed what they would believe to be "an extraordinary feat."


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Flights between Algiers and Paris are now Flights 1355, 1451, 1555, 1755, and 1855 (operating to Charles de Gaulle instead of Orly). Flight number 8969 is now a codeshare flight number for Delta Air Lines flight number 1584 between Greater Rochester International Airport and Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Most of the passengers were Algerians; 138 of the passengers were Algerian citizens. A significant number of the passengers were French people leaving Algeria. Captain Bernard Delhemme said that the hijackers, who had extensively planned the operation, did not anticipate that most of the passengers would be Algerians. The hijackers recited Quran verses and tried to reassure the Algerian passengers. Witness accounts said that they terrorised non-Algerians.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: Christophe Morin was anxious to get home. Over the summer his brother and sister both died and he asked Air France if it was possible for him not to fly during the Christmas celebrations but they refused his request and so he went to work on the flight feeling very reluctant because he had wanted to be with his parents and family.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: 25-year-old Abdul Abdullah Yahia, also known as "The Emir", was a petty thief and greengrocer from the Bab El Oued neighbourhood of Algiers. By the time of the hijacking, he was notorious for beheading Algerian policemen. The negotiators said that Yahia spoke "approximate" French and always ended his sentences in "Insha'Allah" ("God willing"). Several passengers said all but one of the hijackers had no beards and closely cropped hair. A woman said that the men "were polite and correct" and that they "had the determined air of cold-blooded killers". Another passenger said the hijackers "seemed excited, very euphoric" and that they told the occupants that they would teach the French and the world a lesson and show what they were capable of doing.


title: Air France Flight 8969

text: As the hijacking progressed, the passengers recognised the personalities of the hijackers. Claude Burgniard, a flight attendant, recalled that the crew and passengers gave nicknames to the hijackers "to make things simpler". Yahia, the leader, had given his name, so the passengers called him by that name. According to Burgniard, Lotfi had a "peculiar" character, "was always on a knife edge", and "the most fanatic" and "the most fundamentalist" of the hijackers. Therefore, he received the nickname "Madman" from the passengers. According to Burgniard, Lotfi was the hijacker who insisted that the passengers follow Islamic law. Lotfi found women having their heads uncovered "intolerable", making him very angry. One hijacker did not give his name to the passengers, so they called him "Bill". Burgniard stated that Bill was "a little bit simple" and "more of a goatherd than a terrorist." She said his role as a hijacker was "an error in casting". Burgniard remembered that the occupants wondered why Bill was there and that they saw Bill appearing as if he wondered why he was there, as well. The hijacker nicknamed "The Killer" shot the hostages whom the hijackers had targeted.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The Winchester Model 70 is a bolt-action sporting rifle. It has an iconic place in American sporting culture and has been held in high regard by shooters since it was introduced in 1936, earning the moniker "The Rifleman's Rifle". The action has some design similarities to Mauser designs and it is a development of the earlier Winchester Model 54, itself based on a Mauser 98-type action.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The Model 70 was originally manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company between 1936 and 1980. From the early 1980s until 2006, Winchester rifles were manufactured by U.S. Repeating Arms under an agreement with Olin Corporation, allowing USRA to use the Winchester name and logo. Model 70s were built in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1936 to 2006, when production ceased. In the fall of 2007, the Belgian company FN Herstal announced that Model 70 production would resume. As of 2012, new Winchester Model 70 rifles were being made by FN Herstal in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2013, assembly was moved to Portugal.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: In 1936, Winchester introduced the Model 70 bolt-action rifle to the American market. The Model 70 was largely based on the Model 54, and is today still highly regarded by shooters and is often called "The Rifleman's Rifle". In 1999, "Shooting Times" magazine named the Model 70 the "Bolt-action Rifle of the Century".


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Throughout its life, the Model 70 has been offered in many grades and styles. Over the entire production of the Model 70, chamberings have included: .22 Hornet, .222 Remington, .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, .223 WSSM, .225 Winchester, .220 Swift, .243 Winchester, .243 WSSM, .250-3000 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06 Remington, .25 WSSM, 6.5×55mm, .264 Winchester Magnum, 6.5mm Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, 6.8 Western, .270 WSM, .270 Weatherby Magnum, .280 Remington, 7mm Mauser, 7mm-08, 7 mm Remington Magnum, 7mm WSM, 7mm STW, .300 Savage, .30-06 Springfield, .308 Winchester, .300 H&H Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 WSM, .300 Weatherby Magnum, .300 RUM, .325 WSM, .338 Winchester Magnum, .35 Remington, .358 Winchester, .375 H&H Magnum, .416 Remington Magnum, .416 Rigby, .458 Winchester Magnum, and .470 Capstick, and 9x57mm Mauser.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The pre-1964 Model 70s were manufactured from 1936 through 1963, and gained popularity along with the .270 Winchester with the help of gun writer Jack O'Connor, after which time significant changes in the design and manufacture of the rifles were made. Pre-1964 Model 70s bring a substantial price premium due to a public perception that they were better, as they had several desirable features (Mauser-type controlled round feed, cut checkering) that the post-1964 version did not. The best way to identify a pre-1964 Model 70 Winchester rifles is the serial number and the fore-end screw to secure the barrel to the stock. Model 70 rifles with serial numbers below 700,000 are the pre-1964 variety. The receivers of these Model 70s were machined from bar stock steel.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The original Model 70 quickly established an excellent reputation with American sportsmen. It was a high-quality action of considerable strength, with two forward locking lugs and a Mauser-type non-rotating claw extractor. The key benefit of the Mauser-type extractor compared to later versions is that it more positively extracts the spent casing. This feature is often referred to as "controlled round feeding" (CRF) because the extractor captures the rim of a cartridge as it is fed upwards from the magazine and controls its journey forward into the rifle's chamber. Later designs, referred to as push feed, only capture the cartridge by the magazine lips and the chamber and the cartridge is not held to the bolt face until a spring-loaded extractor is pushed over the cartridge's extractor groove. The smaller extractor of the push feed action may slip or break off a spent casing stuck in the chamber under adverse conditions. Therefore, the more positive extraction of the controlled round feeding action is favored by some shooters, especially those who pursue dangerous game, who require rifles to extract reliably. This function is necessary to allow subsequent cartridges to be fed and fired in a bolt-action rifle with only a single barrel. The ejector on the original Model 70 was of the blade type similar to that of the Mauser 98, but considered superior as it did not require a Mauser-type slot through the left locking lug; instead, there was a slot in the bolt face below the locking lug, leaving both forward lugs solid and hence stronger. The main benefit of the blade type ejector is it is simpler and perhaps more reliable (being considered less susceptible to ingress of foreign matter) when compared to the later post-1964 plunger ejector in the bolt face controlled by a coil spring.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Other significant features of this action include a three-position wing-type safety (retained throughout Model 70 production), a cone breeching-system that helps prevent bullet-nose damage while loading a cartridge from the magazine, machined steel trigger-guard and floor plate, one-piece bolt construction, and a trigger adjustable for pull weight and over-travel.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Competing as it did with the Remington Model 700, it was decided that changes needed to be made in the face of rising labor costs. Accordingly, in 1964, Winchester made a number of design changes to the Model 70. Few to none of these changes were popular with the rifle-buying public, or with the US military. The changes included dropping the controlled round feed feature, a change to the basic stock shape and the use of impressed checkering rather than cut checkering.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Jack O'Connor, long a proponent of the Model 70, wrote of the post-1964 version that "I was informed by Winchester brass that the Model 70 was being redesigned. I told them that I was glad to get the information so I could lay in four or five more before they loused the rifle up. Then I saw the pilot model of 'New Model 70'. At the first glimpse I like to fell into a swoon. The action was simplified, the trigger guard and floor plate made of a flimsy looking one-piece stamping." Despite this initial reaction, O'Connor grudgingly went on to say, "Actually the post-1964 Model 70 is not a bad rifle in spite of the fact that rifle aficionados have never taken it to their bosoms the way they did its predecessor. It is a stronger action than the pre-1964. The head of the bolt encloses the head of the case. It has a small, neat hook extractor, which is adequate. With this extractor the cartridge is not as surely controlled as it is with the Mauser-type extractor. However, the new model seldom gives feeding problems."


title: Winchester Model 70

text: In order to reduce manufacturing costs in the face of higher labor rates, rifles manufactured from 1964 to 1992 differed from early Model 70s in the following ways:


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Any Model 70 rifle made since that is not designated as a "Classic" model is likely to have this post-1964 action. In design terms (enclosed bolt face, plunger ejector, brazed bolt construction) the new action itself was comparable in design to the competing Remington Model 700, which has a worldwide following and is considered to be very reliable. When coupled with the other cost-cutting changes and compared with the previously produced and very familiar Model 70, however, it was immediately declared to be lacking.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The new design of the rifle was swiftly and severely criticized by both gun writers and riflemen alike for its perceived lesser amount of control and feed issues, making the original action much more prized.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The post-1964 action has been further improved over the years. Thanks to a refined bolt head design, the bolt is now less wobbly when open, and the action is now generally considered on par with the CRF action. Under normal conditions, the action's new design is no less reliable, and although the simplified construction is certainly less elegant, some of the changes could be considered improvements, having made the action stronger. Also, the pressed checkering, one of the most reviled changes, was likewise done away with as soon as machine-cut checkering became available. All things considered, in normal situations there is now not much to choose between the two versions at present, apart from personal preference.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: In 1968, further revisions were made to the Model 70 in part to address consumer concerns. An "anti-bind" feature was introduced to make operation of the action smoother, which comprised a groove in an extended right locking lug operating on a rib on the right side of the receiver. This made the action noticeably smoother to operate and has been retained to the present day. A steel floorplate and stainless magazine follower were introduced, partially revoking changes introduced in the 1964 model. The alloy trigger guard was retained.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Starting in 1992, Winchester re-introduced many features of the pre-1964 rifles, while also continuing to manufacture less-expensive variants. The post-1992 Model 70 is an extensive rifle line that boasts nearly all of the features of the original line, but with some updated equipment, such as the "Controlled Round Push Feed" action and synthetic stocks. The popular Shadow variants feature black resin stocks, which reduce the price of the firearm significantly, and hold up better than wood stocks over time. Some of the modern rifles also use high performance McMillan, H. S. Precision or Bell and Carlson fiberglass stocks, though these rifles tend to be expensive. Particular models feature a one-piece aluminum pillar block bedding for greater accuracy, and some models have fluting of the barrel to reduce weight and vent the barrel for additional cooling. Carbon fiber barrels are also found on select models to reduce weight and dissipate heat faster. Walnut stocks are still found across the line in satin finishes, and laminated walnut stocks are added to the mix for structural stability in extreme dry or wet conditions. The Model 70 is offered in all of the previous chamberings as the original, and is now supplemented with newer rounds, including the Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) and Winchester Super Short Magnum (WSSM) cartridges, which are magnum loaded rounds, but are shorter in length and wider in diameter, so spent cartridges take less time to eject and use less powder. However, these short magnum cartridges reduce magazine capacity and feeding reliability, due to their extra width and rebated rim.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: In 1992, Winchester began producing a controlled round feed Model 70 that was marketed as the "Classic" model. This version reintroduced the CRF feature, while retaining the "anti-bind" locking lug groove bolt guide of the 1968 push feed model. The use of modern CNC manufacturing techniques allowed Winchester to re-introduce the CRF feature at a competitive price.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Around this time, Browning, which is owned by the same parent company as USRAC, Giat Corp, of France, introduced the BOSS accuracy system. The term 'BOSS' is an acronym for Ballistic Optimising Shooting System. The device attaches to the muzzle end of the barrel and allows the natural harmonics, commonly known as barrel whip, caused during the bullet's passage down the bore, to be refined and controlled. By adjusting the device for optimum performance in the individual rifle, accuracy is brought to peak level. Winchester Model 70s equipped with the BOSS provide a significant improvement in accuracy for a production rifle. Currently, only Browning rifles are available with the BOSS.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: Later, Winchester expanded the Classic line, putting the Classic action on all their modern stocks, giving a wide range of choice in rifle types. This basically lets the buyer choose an action, then choose a stock to one's liking. Both pre- and post-1964 versions of the Model 70 actions have their strengths and weaknesses.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: At the same time as the CRF feature was re-introduced, a recent innovation allowed the short extractor used on the post-1964 models to ride over the extraction groove on a cartridge, giving controlled feeding without the expense of the long Mauser type extractor. This was called "Controlled Round Push Feed". This is achieved by the use of the pre-1964 ejector, combined with a modified post-1964 extractor and bolt face relieved at the bottom allowing the round to engage the bolt face from underneath.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: On March 31, 2006, U.S. Repeating Arms closed the New Haven, Conn. plant where Winchester rifles and shotguns were produced for 140 years. This resulted in hiatus of the production of the Winchester Model 70 rifle and Winchester Model 1300 pump-action shotgun and the end of the Model 94 lever-action rifle. Other Winchester models however, are still produced in other regions such as Asia and Europe.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: On August 15, 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of the Winchester trademarks, announced that it had entered into a new license agreement with Browning to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns, though not at the closed Winchester plant in New Haven. Browning, based in Morgan, Utah, and the former licensee, U.S. Repeating Arms Company, are both subsidiaries of FN Herstal.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: In October 2007, FN Herstal announced that it would produce Controlled Round Feed Winchester Model 70 rifles at its facility in Columbia, South Carolina, where it currently manufactures the M240, M249, and M16 for the United States military, as well as its Special Police Rifle and Patrol Bolt Rifle lines, which are, in fact, variants of the modern Model 70 Controlled Round Feed rifles.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: As of 2015, Model 70 rifles are stamped, "Imported by BACO, Inc., Morgan, Utah – Made in Portugal by Browning Viana".


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The Winchester Model 70 series rifles are marketed as sniper rifles for military forces and law enforcement agencies under the Fabrique Nationale banner as the Special Police Rifle (SPR) and the Patrol Bolt Rifle (PBR).


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The FN Special Police Rifle has the standard Winchester Model 70 rifle action, receiver and magazine system but the rifle is fitted with a heavier barrel and with the McMillan series tactical rifle stocks.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The FN Patrol Bolt Rifle has the standard features of the original Winchester Model 70 rifle but the rifle is designed for use by police officers in patrol cars with the rifle having a short and compact barrel so it would allow the rifle to be stored in a police car. The FN Patrol Bolt Rifle is also marketed with a compensator on the muzzle of the rifle's barrel.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: The United States Marine Corps purchased 373 Model 70 rifles in May 1942. Although the Marine Corps officially used only the M1 Garand and the M1903 Springfield as sniper rifles during the Second World War, "many Winchester Model 70s showed up at training camps and in actual field use during the Pacific campaign." These rifles had shorter 24-inch barrels chambered for .30-06 Springfield. They were serial numbered in the 41000 to 50000 range and were fitted with leaf sights and checkered stocks with steel butt plates, one-inch sling swivels, and leather slings. It has been reported that some of these rifles were equipped with 8X Unertl telescopic sights for limited unofficial use as sniper weapons on Guadalcanal and during the Korean War. Many of the surviving rifles, after reconditioning with heavier Douglas barrels and new stocks between 1956 and 1963 at the Marine Corps match rebuild shop in Albany, Georgia, were fitted with 8× Unertl sights from M1903 sniper rifles. The reconditioned rifles were used in competitive shooting matches; and the United States Army purchased approximately 200 new Model 70 National Match Rifles with medium heavy barrels for match use between 1954 and 1957. Many of the reconditioned Marine Corps match rifles were used by Marine Corps snipers during the early years of the Vietnam war with M72 match ammunition loaded with 173-grain boat-tailed bullets. A smaller number of the Army's Model 70 rifles also saw combat use by Army snipers; and some were equipped with silencers for covert operations in Southeast Asia. These Model 70 rifles never achieved the status of a standard military weapon; but were used until replaced by the Remington Model 700 series bolt-action rifles which became the basis for the M40 series sniper rifle.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: One of the reasons the U.S. Marine Corps replaced their Winchester Model 70s was that the post-1964 variants of the Model 70 did not meet U.S. Marines' standards. Despite the introduction of the Remington Model 700 rifle, the pre-1964 Winchester Model 70 was still used by the US Marine Corps' scout/sniper teams during the Vietnam War alongside the Remington Model 700 rifle. The original wood stocks were found to be warping in both rifles after a few years of service and both rifles were given fiberglass stocks to remedy the problem. Existing Model 70s still in service have had their stocks replaced with a McMillan fiberglass stock, such as that found on the Custom Extreme Weather variant.


title: Winchester Model 70

text: One of the best known U.S. Marine Corps snipers who used the Winchester Model 70 during the Vietnam War was Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, who used a Winchester Model 70 sniper rifle chambered in .30-06. It was this rifle, equipped with a standard 8×43 Unertl scope, that Hathcock used to kill a North Vietnamese enemy sniper by shooting him in the eye, through the scope of his Mosin–Nagant rifle. Hathcock's rifle is on display at the Quantico, Virginia Marine Corps Sniper Museum.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Diethylstilbestrol (DES), also known as stilbestrol or stilboestrol, is a nonsteroidal estrogen medication, which is presently rarely used. In the past, it was widely used for a variety of indications, including pregnancy support for those with a history of recurrent miscarriage, hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms and estrogen deficiency, treatment of prostate cancer and breast cancer, and other uses. By 2007, it was only used in the treatment of prostate cancer and breast cancer. In 2011, Hoover and colleagues reported on adverse health outcomes linked to DES including infertility, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia, preterm birth, stillbirth, infant death, menopause prior to age 45, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and vaginal cancer. While most commonly taken by mouth, DES was available for use by other routes as well, for instance, vaginal, topical, and by injection.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES is an estrogen, or an agonist of the estrogen receptors, the biological target of estrogens like estradiol. It is a synthetic and nonsteroidal estrogen of the stilbestrol group, and differs from the natural estrogen estradiol in various ways. Compared to estradiol, DES has greatly improved bioavailability when taken by mouth, is more resistant to metabolism, and shows relatively increased effects in certain parts of the body like the liver and uterus. These differences result in DES having an increased risk of blood clots, cardiovascular issues, and certain other adverse effects.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES was discovered in 1938 and introduced for medical use in 1939. From about 1940 to 1971, the medication was given to pregnant women in the incorrect belief that it would reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and losses. In 1971, DES was shown to cause clear-cell carcinoma, a rare vaginal tumor, in those who had been exposed to this medication "in utero". The United States Food and Drug Administration subsequently withdrew approval of DES as a treatment for pregnant women. Follow-up studies have indicated that DES also has the potential to cause a variety of significant adverse medical complications during the lifetimes of those exposed.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The United States National Cancer Institute recommends children born to mothers who took DES to undergo special medical exams on a regular basis to screen for complications as a result of the medication. Individuals who were exposed to DES during their mothers' pregnancies are commonly referred to as "DES daughters" and "DES sons". Since the discovery of the toxic effects of DES, it has largely been discontinued and is now mostly no longer marketed.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Interest in the use of DES to treat prostate cancer continues today. However, use of bioidentical parenteral estrogens like polyestradiol phosphate has been advocated in favor of oral synthetic estrogens like DES due to their much lower risk of cardiovascular toxicity. In addition to prostate cancer, some interest in the use of DES to treat breast cancer continues today as well. However, similarly to the case of prostate cancer, arguments have been made for the use of bioidentical estrogens like estradiol instead of DES for breast cancer.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Oral DES at 0.25 to 0.5 mg/day is effective in the treatment of hot flashes in men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Although DES was used to support pregnancy, it was later found not to be effective for this use and to actually be harmful.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: At more than 1 mg/day, DES is associated with high rates of side effects including nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, headache, and bloating (incidence of 15–50%).


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The pigmentation of the breast areolae are often very dark and almost black with DES therapy. The pigmentation that occurs with synthetic estrogens such as DES is much greater than with natural estrogens such as estradiol. The mechanism of the difference is unknown. Progestogens like hydroxyprogesterone caproate have been reported to reduce the nipple hyperpigmentation induced by high-dose estrogen therapy.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In men treated with it for prostate cancer, DES has been found to produce high rates of gynecomastia (breast development) of 41 to 77%.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In studies of DES as a form of high-dose estrogen therapy for those with prostate cancer, it has been associated with considerable cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The risk is dose-dependent. A dosage of 5 mg/day DES has been associated with a 36% increase in non-cancer-related (mostly cardiovascular) deaths. In addition, there is an up to 15% incidence of venous thromboembolism. A 3 mg/day dosage of DES has been associated with an incidence of thromboembolism of 9.6 to 17%, with an incidence of cardiovascular complications of 33.3%. A lower dosage of 1 mg/day DES has been associated with a rate of death due to cardiovascular events of 14.8% (relative to 8.3% for orchiectomy alone).


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: A comprehensive animal study in 1993 found a plethora of adverse effects from DES such as (but not limited to)


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Rodent studies reveal female reproductive tract cancers and abnormalities reaching to the F2 generation, and there is evidence of adverse effects such as irregular menstrual cycles intersexual in grandchildren of DES mothers. Additionally, evidence also points to transgenerational effects in F2 sons, such as hypospadias.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES has been assessed in the past in clinical studies at extremely high doses of as much as 1,500 to 5,000 mg/day.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES is an estrogen; specifically, it is a highly potent full agonist of both of the estrogen receptors (ERs). It has approximately 468% and 295% of the affinity of estradiol at the ERα and ERβ, respectively. However, EC values of 0.18 nM and 0.06 nM of DES for the ERα and ERβ, respectively, have been reported, suggesting, in spite of its binding affinity for the two receptors, several-fold preference for activation of the ERβ over the ERα. In addition to the nuclear ERs, DES is an agonist of the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER), albeit with relatively low affinity (~1,000 nM). DES produces all of the same biological effects attributed to natural estrogens like estradiol. This includes effects in the uterus, vagina, mammary glands, pituitary gland, and other tissues.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: A dosage of 1 mg/day DES is approximately equivalent to a dosage of 50 µg/day ethinylestradiol in terms of systemic estrogenic potency. Similarly to ethinylestradiol, DES shows a marked and disproportionately strong effect on liver protein synthesis. Whereas its systemic estrogenic potency was about 3.8-fold of that of estropipate (piperazine estrone sulfate), which has similar potency to micronized estradiol, the hepatic estrogenic potency of DES was 28-fold that of estropipate (or about 7.5-fold stronger potency for a dosage with equivalent systemic estrogenic effect).


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES has at least three mechanisms of action in the treatment of prostate cancer. It suppresses gonadal androgen production and hence circulating androgen levels due to its antigonadotropic effects; it stimulates hepatic sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) production, thereby increasing circulating levels of SHBG and decreasing the free fraction of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the circulation; and it may have direct cytotoxic effects in the testes and prostate gland. DES has also been found to decrease DNA synthesis at high doses.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Due to its estrogenic activity, DES has antigonadotropic effects. That is, it exerts negative feedback on the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG axis), suppresses the secretion of the gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and suppresses sex hormone production as well as gamete production or maturation in the gonads. A study of ovulation inhibition found that 5 mg/day oral DES was 92% effective, with ovulation occurring in only a single cycle. DES consistently suppresses testosterone levels in men into the castrate range (<50 ng/dL) within 1 to 2 weeks at doses of 3 mg/day and above. Conversely, a dosage of 1 mg/day DES is unable to fully suppress testosterone levels into the castrate range in men, which instead often stabilize at just above castrate levels (>50 ng/dL). However, it has also been reported that 1 mg/day DES results in approximately 50% suppression of testosterone levels, albeit with wide interindividual variability. It has been said that doses of DES of less than 1 mg/day have no effect on testosterone levels. However, the addition of an "extremely low" dosage of 0.1 mg/day DES to cyproterone acetate has been found to result in a synergistic antigonadotropic effect and to suppress testosterone levels into the castrate range in men. DES at 3 mg/day has similar testosterone suppression to a dose of 300 mg/day, suggesting that suppression of testosterone levels is maximal by 3 mg/day.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In addition to the ERs, an "in vitro" study found that DES also possesses activity, albeit relatively weak, at a variety of other steroid hormone receptors. Whereas the study found EC values of 0.18 nM and 0.06 nM of DES for the ERα and ERβ, respectively, the medication showed significant glucocorticoid activity at a concentration of 1 μM that surpassed that of 0.1 nM dexamethasone, as well as significant antagonism of the androgen, progesterone, and mineralocorticoid receptors (75%, 85%, and 50% inhibition of positive control stimulation, respectively, all at a concentration of 1 μM). It also showed approximately 25% inhibition of the activation of PPARγ and LXRα at a concentration of 10 μM. The researchers stated that, to the best of their knowledge, they were the first to report such actions of DES, and hypothesized that these actions could be involved in the clinical effects of DES, for instance, in prostate cancer (notably in which particularly high dosages of DES are employed). However, they also noted that the importance of the activities requires further study in animal models at pharmacologically relevant doses.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES has been identified as an antagonist of all three isotypes of the estrogen-related receptors (ERRs), the ERRα, ERRβ, and ERRγ. Half-maximal inhibition occurs at a concentration of about 1 μM.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES is well-absorbed with oral administration. With an oral dosage of 1 mg/day DES, plasma levels of DES at 20 hours following the last dose ranged between 0.9 and 1.9 ng/mL (3.4 to 7.1 nmol/L). Sublingual administration of DES appears to have about the same estrogenic potency of oral DES in women. Intrauterine DES has been studied for the treatment of uterine hypoplasia. Oral DES is thought to have about 17 to 50% of the clinical estrogenic potency of DES by injection.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The distribution half-life of DES is 80 minutes. It has no affinity for SHBG or corticosteroid-binding globulin, and hence is not bound to these proteins in the circulation. The plasma protein binding of DES is greater than 95%.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Hydroxylation of the aromatic rings of DES and subsequent conjugation of the ethyl side chains accounts for 80 to 90% of DES metabolism, while oxidation accounts for the remaining 10 to 20% and is dominated by conjugation reactions. Conjugation of DES consists of glucuronidation, while oxidation includes dehydrogenation into ("Z","Z")-dienestrol. The medication is also known to produce paroxypropione as a metabolite. DES produces transient quinone-like reactive intermediates that cause cellular and genetic damage, which may help to explain the known carcinogenic effects of DES in humans. However, other research indicates that the toxic effects of DES may simply be due to overactivation of the ERs. In contrast to estradiol, the hydroxyl groups of DES do not undergo oxidation into an estrone-like equivalent.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The elimination half-life of DES is 24 hours. The metabolites of DES are excreted in urine and feces.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES belongs to the stilbestrol (4,4'-dihydroxystilbene) group of compounds. It is a nonsteroidal open-ring analogue of the steroidal estrogen estradiol. DES can be prepared from anethole, which also happens to be weakly estrogenic. Anethole was demethylated to form anol and anol then spontaneously dimerized into dianol and hexestrol, with DES subsequently being synthesized via structural modification of hexestrol. As shown by X-ray crystallography, the molecular dimensions of DES are almost identical to those of estradiol, particularly in regards to the distance between the terminal hydroxyl groups.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES was first synthesized in early 1938 by Leon Golberg, then a graduate student of Sir Robert Robinson at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory at the University of Oxford. Golberg's research was based on work by Wilfrid Lawson at the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry, (led by Sir Edward Charles Dodds at Middlesex Hospital Medical School now part of University College London). A report of its synthesis was published in "Nature" on 5 February 1938.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), which had a policy against patenting drugs discovered using public funds. Because it was not patented, DES was produced by more than 200 pharmaceutical and chemical companies worldwide.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES was first marketed for medical use in 1939. It was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 19, 1941, in tablets up to 5 mg for four indications: gonorrheal vaginitis, atrophic vaginitis, menopausal symptoms, and postpartum lactation suppression to prevent breast engorgement. The gonorrheal vaginitis indication was dropped when the antibiotic penicillin became available. From its very inception, the drug was highly controversial.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1941, Charles Huggins and Clarence Hodges at the University of Chicago found estradiol benzoate and DES to be the first effective drugs for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. DES was the first cancer drug.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Orchiectomy or DES or both were the standard initial treatment for symptomatic advanced prostate cancer for over 40 years, until the GnRH agonist leuprorelin was found to have efficacy similar to DES without estrogenic effects and was approved in 1985.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: From the 1940s until the late 1980s, DES was FDA-approved as estrogen replacement therapy for estrogen deficiency states such as ovarian dysgenesis, premature ovarian failure, and after oophorectomy.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In the 1940s, DES was used off-label to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with a history of miscarriage. On July 1, 1947, the FDA approved the use of DES for this indication. The first such approval was granted to Bristol-Myers Squibb, allowing use of 25 mg (and later 100 mg) tablets of DES during pregnancy. Approvals were granted to other pharmaceutical companies later in the same year. The recommended regimen started at 5 mg per day in the seventh and eighth weeks of pregnancy (from first day of last menstrual period), increased every other week by 5 mg per day through the 14th week, and then increased every week by 5 mg per day from 25 mg per day in the 15th week to 125 mg per day in the 35th week of pregnancy.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES was originally considered effective and safe for both the pregnant woman and the developing baby. It was aggressively marketed and routinely prescribed. Sales peaked in 1953.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In the early 1950s, a double-blind clinical trial at the University of Chicago assessed pregnancy outcomes in women who were assigned to either receive or not receive DES. The study showed no benefit of taking DES during pregnancy; adverse pregnancy outcomes were not reduced in the women who were given DES. By the late 1960s, six of seven leading textbooks of obstetrics said DES was ineffective at preventing miscarriage.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Despite an absence of evidence supporting the use of DES to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes, DES continued to be given to pregnant women through the 1960s. In 1971, a report published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" showed a probable link between DES and vaginal clear cell adenocarcinoma in girls and young women who had been exposed to this drug "in utero". Later in the same year, the FDA sent an FDA Drug Bulletin to all U.S. physicians advising against the use of DES in pregnant women. The FDA also removed prevention of miscarriage as an indication for DES use and added pregnancy as a contraindication for DES use. On February 5, 1975, the FDA ordered 25 mg and 100 mg tablets of DES withdrawn, effective February 18, 1975. The number of persons exposed to DES during pregnancy or "in utero" during the period of 1940 to 1971 is unknown, but may be as high as 2 million in the United States. DES was also used in other countries, most notably France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: From the 1950s through the beginning of the 1970s, DES was prescribed to prepubescent girls to begin puberty and thus stop growth by closing growth plates in the bones. Despite its clear link to cancer, doctors continued to recommend the hormone for "excess height".


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1960, DES was found to be more effective than androgens in the treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women. DES was the hormonal treatment of choice for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women until 1977, when the FDA approved tamoxifen, a selective estrogen receptor modulator with efficacy similar to DES but fewer side effects.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Several sources from medical literature in the 1970s and 1980s indicate that DES was used as a component of hormone therapy for transgender women.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1973, in an attempt to restrict off-label use of DES as a postcoital contraceptive (which had become prevalent at many university health services following publication of an influential study in 1971 in "JAMA") to emergency situations such as rape, an "FDA Drug Bulletin" was sent to all U.S. physicians and pharmacists that said the FDA had approved, under restricted conditions, postcoital contraceptive use of DES.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1975, the FDA said it had not actually given (and never did give) approval to any manufacturer to market DES as a postcoital contraceptive, but would approve that indication for emergency situations such as rape or incest if a manufacturer provided patient labeling and special packaging as set out in a FDA final rule published in 1975. To discourage off-label use of DES as a postcoital contraceptive, the FDA in 1975 removed DES 25 mg tablets from the market and ordered the labeling of lower doses (5 mg and lower) of DES still approved for other indications changed to state: "This drug product should not be used as a postcoital contraceptive" in block capital letters on the first line of the physician prescribing information package insert and in a prominent and conspicuous location of the container and carton label. In the 1980s, off-label use of the Yuzpe regimen of certain regular combined oral contraceptive pills superseded off-label use of DES as a postcoital contraceptive.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1978, the FDA removed postpartum lactation suppression to prevent breast engorgement from their approved indications for DES and other estrogens. In the 1990s, the only approved indications for DES were treatment of advanced prostate cancer and treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The last remaining U.S. manufacturer of DES, Eli Lilly, stopped making and marketing it in 1997.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Diethylstilbestrol has been used countless times in studies on rats. Once it was discovered that DES was causing vaginal cancer, experiments began on both male and female rats. Many of these male rats were injected with DES while other male rats were injected with olive oil, and they were considered the control group. Each group received the same dosage on the same days, and the researchers performed light microscopy, electron microscopy, and confocal laser microscopy. With both the electron and confocal laser microscopy, it was prevalent that the Sertoli cells, which is a somatic cell where spermatids develop in the testes, was formed thirty-six years later in the rats who were injected with Diethylstilbestrol compared to the rats in the control group. Proceeding the completion of the trial, it was understood that rats of older age who were injected with DES experienced delay in sertoli cell maturation, underdeveloped epididymides, and drastic decrease in weight compared to its counterparts.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The female rats used were inbred and most of them were given DES combined in their food. These rats were divided into three groups, one group who received no diethylstilbestrol, one group who had DES mixed into their diet, and the third group who had DES administered into their diet after day 13 of being pregnant. Some rats who were given DES unfortunately died before delivering their pup. The group that received DES in their food for 13 days while being pregnant resulted in early abortion and delivery failure. These outcomes showed that DES had a detrimental effect on pregnancy when administered as often as it was. Providing the dosing of diethylstilbestrol later in the pregnancy term also made visible the occurrence of abortions among the rats. Overall, any interaction with DES in female rats concluded in the rats' experiencing abortions, improper fetal growth, and the increase in sterility.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: A review of people who had been treated or exposed to DES was done to find out how long-term effects would show. People for a long time had been treated during their pregnancy with DES and there have been known to be toxic and adverse effects to the hormone therapy. "Exposure to DES has been associated with an increased risk for breast cancer in DES mothers (relative risk, <2.0) and with a lifetime risk of clear-cell cervicovaginal cancer in DES daughters of 1/1000 to 1/10 000." Side effects of DES are proving to be long-term as it can cause increased risks to cancer after use. There will be continued work to see how far the adverse effects of DES will go after previous therapy as many women had used this during pregnancy and there is a long line to see how it will effect offspring and the mothers longer-term.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1938, the ability to test the safety of DES on animals was first obtained by the FDA. The results from the preliminary tests showed that DES harmed the reproductive systems of animals. The application of these results to humans could not be determined, so the FDA could not act in a regulatory manner.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: New Drug Applications for DES approval were withdrawn in 1940 in a decision made by the FDA based on scientific uncertainty. However, this decision resulted in significant political pressure, so the FDA came to a compromise. The compromise meant that DES would be available only by prescription and would have to have warnings about its effects on the bottle, but the warning was dropped in 1945. In 1947, DES finally gained FDA approval for prescription to pregnant women who had diabetes as a method of preventing miscarriages. This led to the widespread prescription of DES to all pregnant women.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In 1971, the FDA recommended against the prescription of DES to pregnant women. As a result, DES then began to see a withdraw from the US market starting in 1972 and in the European market starting in 1978, but the FDA still did not withdraw its approval for the use of DES in humans.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. After classification as a carcinogen, DES had its FDA approval withdrawn in 2000. DES is currently only in use for veterinary practices and in research trials as allowed by the FDA.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Medical Ethics in regard to the approval and use of Diethylstilbestrol have been dismissed because of the actions of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies that were making DES at the time of its use. The Vice President of the American Drug Manufacturers Association, Carson Frailey, was employed by drug companies creating DES in order to help get it approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nancy Langston, the author of The Retreat from Precaution: Regulating Diethylstilbestrol (DES), Endocrine Disruptors, and Environmental Health, states that "Frailey persuaded fifty-four doctors from around the country to write to the FDA, describing their clinical experiences with a total of more than five thousand patients. Only four of these fifty-four doctors felt that DES should not be approved, and the result was that, against the concerns of many of the FDA medical staff, the FDA's drug chief Theodore Klumpp recommended that the FDA approve DES." This excerpt describes how DES was unethically approved and shows that the motivation behind its approval was for the benefit of drug companies rather than the people who were going to use the drug. This approval of DES violates the values of medical ethics, autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice as there was little thought put into how DES would affect its users. The decisions made by the FDA leaders to approve DES without further study and convince doctors to dissimulate their opinions on the use of DES is unethical. Once DES was approved for public consumption the "warnings [for DES were] made available only on a separate circular that patients would not see. Doctors could get this warning circular only by writing to the drug companies and requesting it. Letters between companies and FDA regulators reveal that both groups feared that if a woman ever saw how many potential risks DES might present, she might refuse to take the drug—or else she might sue the company and the prescribing doctors if she did get cancer or liver damage after taking the drug." Women were not informed about the possible effects of DES because doctors and FDA regulators were afraid DES would fail and never be approved costing the drug companies millions of dollars. The act of distributing potentially dangerous medicine to patients regardless of the affect and harm it may do solely for monetary gain is unethical.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: In the 1970s, the negative publicity surrounding the discovery of DES's long-term effects resulted in a huge wave of lawsuits in the United States against its manufacturers. These culminated in a landmark 1980 decision of the Supreme Court of California, "Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories", in which the court imposed a rebuttable presumption of market share liability upon all DES manufacturers, proportional to their share of the market at the time the drug was consumed by the mother of a particular plaintiff.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company manufacturing DES, and the University of Chicago, had an action filed against them in regard to clinical trials from the 1950s. Three women filed the claim that their daughters had developments of abnormal cervical cellular formations as well as reproductive abnormalities in themselves and their sons. The plaintiffs had asked the courts to certify their case as a class action but were declined by the courts. However, the courts issued an opinion that their case had merit. The court held that Eli Lilly had a duty to notify about the risks of DES once they became aware of them or should have become aware of them. Under Illinois tort law, for the plaintiffs to recover under theories of breach of duty to warn and strict liability, the plaintiffs must have alleged injury to themselves. Ultimately, under their claims of breach of duty to warn and strict liability due to the plaintiffs citing risk of physical injury to others, not physical injury to themselves, the case was dismissed by the courts. Although the case was not certified as class action and their claims of breach of duty to warn and strict liability was dismissed, the courts did not dismiss the battery allegations. The issue was then to determine whether the University of Chicago had committed battery against these women but the case was settled before trial. Part of the settlement agreement for this case, Mink v. University of Chicago, attorneys for the plaintiffs negotiated for the university to provide free medical exams for all offspring exposed to DES in utero during the 1950 experiments as well as treat the daughters of any women involved who develop DES-associated vaginal or cervical cancer.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: As of February 1991, there were over a thousand pending legal actions against DES manufacturers. There are over 300 companies that manufactured DES according to the same formula and the largest barrier to recovery is determining which manufacturer supplied the drug in each particular case. Many of the successful cases have relied on joint or several parties holding liability.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: A lawsuit was filed in Boston Federal Court by 53 DES daughters who say their breast cancers were the result of DES being prescribed to their mothers while pregnant with them. Their cases survived a Daubert hearing. In 2013, the Fecho sisters who initiated the breast cancer/DES link litigation agreed to an undisclosed settlement amount on the second day of trial. The remaining litigants have received various settlements.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The advocacy group DES Action USA helped provide information and support for DES-exposed persons engaged in lawsuits.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: Alan Turing, the ground-breaking cryptographer, founder of computing science and programmable computers, who also proposed the actual theoretical model of biological morphogenesis, was forced onto this medication to induce chemical castration as a punitive and discredited "treatment" for homosexual behaviour, shortly before he died in ambiguous circumstances.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: James Herriot describes a case regarding treating a small dog's testicular Sertoli cell tumor in his 1974 book "All Things Bright and Beautiful". Herriot decided to prescribe a high dose of the new drug Stilboestrol for the recurring tumor, with the amusing side effect that the male dog became "attractive to other male dogs", who followed the terrier around the village for a few weeks. Herriot comments in the story that he knew "The new drug was said to have a feminising effect, but surely not to that extent."


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: DES has been very successful in treating female canine incontinence stemming from poor sphincter control. It is still available from compounding pharmacies, and at the low (1 mg) dose, does not have the carcinogenic properties that were so problematic in humans. It is generally administered once a day for seven to ten days and then once every week as needed.


title: Diethylstilbestrol

text: The greatest usage of DES was in the livestock industry, used to improve feed conversion in beef and poultry. During the 1960s, DES was used as a growth hormone in the beef and poultry industries. It was later found to cause cancer by 1971, but was not phased out until 1979. Although DES was discovered to be harmful to humans, its veterinary use was not immediately halted. As of 2011, DES was still being used as a growth promoter in terrestrial livestock or fish in some parts of the world including China.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, (born 2 July 1940), often known as Ken Clarke, is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as deputy chair of British American Tobacco from 1998 to 2007. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rushcliffe from 1970 to 2019 and was Father of the House of Commons between 2017 and 2019. The President of the Tory Reform Group since 1997, he is a one-nation conservative who identifies with economically and socially liberal views.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke served in the Cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1987 to 1988, Health Secretary from 1988 to 1990, and Education Secretary from 1990 to 1992. He held two of the Great Offices of State as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He contested the Conservative Party leadership three times—in 1997, 2001 and 2005—being defeated each time. Opinion polls indicated he was more popular with the general public than with his party, whose generally Eurosceptic stance did not chime with his pro-European views. Under the coalition government of David Cameron, he returned to the Cabinet as Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from 2010 to 2012 and Minister without Portfolio from 2012 to 2014. He was also the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion from 2010 to 2014.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: The Conservative whip was withdrawn from him in September 2019 because he and 20 other MPs voted with the Opposition on a motion; for the remainder of his time in Parliament he sat as an independent, though still on the government benches. He stood down as an MP at the 2019 general election and was thereafter appointed by Boris Johnson as a Conservative Member of the House of Lords in September 2020.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke is President of the Conservative Europe Group, Co-President of the pro-EU body British Influence and Vice-President of the European Movement UK. Described by the press as a 'Big Beast' of British politics, his total time as a minister is the fifth-longest in the modern era. He has spent over 20 years serving under Prime Ministers Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron. He was one of only five ministers (Tony Newton, Malcolm Rifkind, Patrick Mayhew and Lynda Chalker are the others) to serve throughout the whole 18 years of the Thatcher—Major Governments, which represents the longest uninterrupted ministerial service in Britain since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke was born in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, and was christened with the same name as his father, Kenneth Clarke, a Nottinghamshire mining electrician and later a watchmaker and jeweller. He won a scholarship to attend the independent Nottingham High School before going to read for a law degree at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated with an upper second honours degree. Clarke initially held Labour sympathies, and his grandfather was a Communist, but while at Cambridge he joined the Conservative Party.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: As Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA), Clarke invited former British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley to speak for two years in succession, prompting some Jewish students (including his future successor at the Home Office, Michael Howard) to resign from CUCA in protest. Howard then defeated Clarke in one election for the presidency of the Cambridge Union, but Clarke became President of the Cambridge Union a year later, being elected on 6 March 1963 by a majority of 56 votes. Clarke opposed the admission of women to the Union, and is quoted as saying upon his election, "The fact that Oxford has admitted them does not impress me at all. Cambridge should wait a year to see what happens before any decision is taken on admitting them."


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In an early-1990s documentary, journalist Michael Cockerell played to Clarke some tape recordings of Clarke speaking at the Cambridge Union as a young man, and he displayed amusement at hearing his then-stereotypical upper class accent. Clarke is deemed one of the Cambridge Mafia, a group of prominent Conservative politicians who were educated at Cambridge in the 1960s. After leaving Cambridge, Clarke was called to the bar in 1963 at Gray's Inn, and was made Queen's Counsel in 1980.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke sought election to the House of Commons almost immediately after leaving university. His political career began by contesting the Labour stronghold of Mansfield at the 1964 and 1966 elections. In June 1970, just before his 30th birthday, he won the East Midlands constituency of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, south of Nottingham, from Labour MP Tony Gardner. From 2017 to 2019 he was Father of the House. Following his expulsion from the Conservative Party in September 2019, he became the first Independent MP to hold the position of Father of the House since Clement Tudway, who died in office as MP For Wells in 1815.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke was soon appointed a Government whip, and served as such from 1972 to 1974; he, with the assistance of Labour rebels, helped ensure Edward Heath's government won key votes on British entry into the European Communities (which later evolved into the European Union). Even though Clarke opposed the election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative Party Leader in 1975, he was appointed as her Industry Spokesman from 1976 to 1979, and then occupied a range of ministerial positions during her premiership.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke first served in the government of Margaret Thatcher as Parliamentary Secretary for Transport (1979–81) and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (1981–82), and then Minister of State for Health (1982–85).


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: He joined the Cabinet as Paymaster-General and Employment Minister (1985–87) (his Secretary of State, Lord Young of Graffham, sat in the Lords), and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of the DTI (1987–88) with responsibility for Inner Cities. While in that position, Clarke announced the sale to British Aerospace of the Rover Group, a new name for British Leyland, which had been nationalised in 1975 by the Government of Harold Wilson.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke was appointed the first Secretary of State for Health when the department was created out of the former Department of Health and Social Security in July 1988. Clarke, with backing from John Major, persuaded Thatcher to accept the controversial "internal market" concept to the NHS. Clarke claimed that he had persuaded Thatcher to introduce internal competition in the NHS as an alternative to her preference for introducing a system of compulsory health insurance, which he opposed.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: He told his biographer Malcolm Balen: "John Moore was pursuing a line which Margaret [Thatcher] was very keen on, which made everything compulsory medical insurance. I was bitterly opposed to that...The American system is...the world's worst health service – expensive, inadequate and with a lot of rich doctors". In her memoirs Thatcher claimed that Clarke, although "a firm believer in state provision", was "an extremely effective Health minister – tough in dealing with vested interests and trade unions, direct and persuasive in his exposition of government policy".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In January 1989, Clarke's White Paper "Working for Patients" appeared; this advocated giving hospitals the right to become self-governing NHS Trusts, taxpayer-funded but with control over their budgets and independent of the regional health authorities. It also proposed that doctors be given the option to become "GP fundholders". This would grant doctors control of their own budgets in the belief that they would purchase the most effective services for their patients. Instead of doctors automatically sending patients to the nearest hospital, they would be able to choose where they were treated. In this way, money would follow the patient and the most efficient hospitals would receive the greatest funding.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: This was not well received by doctors and their trade union, the British Medical Association, launched a poster campaign against Clarke's reforms, claiming that the NHS was "underfunded, undermined and under threat". They also called the new GP contracts "Stalinist". A March 1990 opinion poll commissioned by the BMA showed that 73% believed that the NHS was not safe in Conservative hands. Clarke later claimed that the BMA was "the most unscrupulous trade union I have ever dealt with and I've dealt with every trade union across the board". Although Thatcher tried to halt the reforms just before they were introduced, Clarke successfully argued that they were necessary to demonstrate the government's commitment to the NHS. Thatcher told Clarke: "It is "you" I'm holding responsible if "my" NHS reforms don't work".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: By 1994 almost all hospitals had opted to become trusts but GP fundholding was much less popular. There were allegations that fundholders received more funding than non-fundholders, creating a two-tier system. GP fundholding was abolished by Labour in 1997 and replaced by Primary Care Groups. According to John Campbell, by "the mid-1990s the NHS was treating more patients, more efficiently than in the 1980s...the system was arguably better managed and more accountable than before". Studies suggest that while the competition introduced in the "internal market" system resulted in shorter waiting times it also caused a reduction in the quality of care for patients.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke has been the subject of criticism over the decades for his involvement in the contaminated blood scandal. It was the largest loss-of-life disaster in Britain since the 1950s and claimed the lives of thousands of haemophiliacs. Theresa May ordered a public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal in July 2017. In July 2021, Clarke gave oral evidence to the inquiry with his demeanour being widely branded "arrogant, pompous and contemptuous" by the press. It was reported that he argued with inquiry counsel, refused to apologise and at one point even walked out while the chairman, Sir Brian Langstaff, was speaking.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: The MSF trade union claimed that Clarke's exclusion of NHS medical laboratory staff from the pay review body in 1984 led to massive staff shortages and a crisis in medical laboratory testing by 1999.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Just over two years later he was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science in the final weeks of Thatcher's Government, following Norman Tebbit's unwillingness to return to Cabinet following the resignation of Sir Geoffrey Howe. Clarke was the first Cabinet Minister to advise Thatcher to resign after her victory in the first round of the November 1990 leadership contest was less than the 15% winning margin required to prevent a second ballot; she referred to him in her memoirs as a "candid friend": "his manner was robust in the brutalist style he has cultivated: the candid friend".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke came to work with John Major very closely, and quickly emerged as a central figure in his government. After continuing as Education Secretary (1990–92), where he introduced a number of reforms, he was appointed as Home Secretary in the wake of the Conservatives' victory at the 1992 general election. In May 1993, seven months after the impact of "Black Wednesday" had damaged Norman Lamont's credibility as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Major sacked Lamont and appointed Clarke in his place.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: At first, Clarke was seen as the dominant figure in Cabinet, and at the October 1993 Conservative Party Conference he defended Major from his critics by pronouncing "any enemy of John Major is an enemy of mine."


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In the party leadership contest of 1995, when John Major beat John Redwood, Clarke kept faith in Major and commented: "I don't think the Conservative Party could win an election in 1,000 years on this ultra right-wing programme".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke enjoyed an increasingly successful record as Chancellor, as the economy recovered from the recession of the early 1990s and a new monetary policy was put into effect after Black Wednesday. He reduced the basic rate of income tax from 25% to 23%, reduced UK Government spending as a percentage of GDP, and reduced the budget deficit from £50.8 billion in 1993 to £15.5 billion in 1997. Clarke's successor, the Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown, continued these policies, which eliminated the deficit by 1998 and allowed Brown to record a budget surplus for the following four years. Interest rates, inflation and unemployment all fell during Clarke's tenure at HM Treasury. Clarke's success was such that Brown felt he had to pledge to keep to Clarke's spending plans and these limits remained in place for the first two years of the Labour Government that was elected in 1997.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: The matter of a referendum on Britain joining the planned euro - first raised by Margaret Thatcher in 1990 - was, after much press speculation, raised again at Cabinet by Douglas Hogg in the spring of 1996, very likely (in Clarke's view) with Major's approval; Clarke records that Heseltine spoke "with passionate intensity" at Cabinet against a referendum, believing both that referendums were pernicious and that no concession would be enough to please the Eurosceptics. Clarke, who had already threatened resignation over the issue, also opposed the measure and, although Clarke and Heseltine were in a small minority in Cabinet, Major once again deferred a decision.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Major, Heseltine and Clarke eventually reached agreement in April 1996, in what Clarke describes as "a tense meeting … rather like a treaty session", that there would be a commitment to a referendum before joining the euro, but that the pledge would be valid for one Parliament only (i.e. until the general election after next), with the Government's long-term options remaining completely open; Clarke threatened to resign if this formula were departed from.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke, writing in 2016 after the Brexit Referendum, comments that he and Heseltine later agreed that they had separately decided to give way because of the pressure Major was under, and that the referendum pledge "was the biggest single mistake" of their careers, giving "legitimacy" to such a device.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In December 1996, after Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind had commented that it was unlikely that the government would join the euro, Clarke and Heseltine took to the airwaves – in apparent unison – to insist that the government retained a free choice as to whether or not to join, angering Eurosceptics. When Tory Party Chairman, Brian Mawhinney, was understood to have briefed against him, Clarke declared: "tell your kids to get their scooters off my lawn" – an allusion to Harold Wilson's rebuke of Trades Union leader Hugh Scanlon in the late 1960s.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: After the Conservatives entered opposition in 1997, Clarke contested the leadership of the Party for the first time. In 1997, the electorate being solely Tory Members of Parliament, he topped the poll in the first and second rounds. In the third and final round he formed an alliance with Eurosceptic John Redwood, who would have become Shadow Chancellor and Clarke's deputy, were he to have won the contest. However, Thatcher endorsed Clarke's rival William Hague, who proceeded to win the election comfortably. The contest was criticised for not involving the rank-and-file members of the Party, where surveys showed Clarke to be more popular. Clarke rejected the offer from Hague of a Shadow Cabinet role, opting instead to return to the backbenches.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke contested the party leadership for a second time in 2001. Despite opinion polls again showing he was the most popular Conservative politician with the British public, he lost in a final round among the rank-and-file membership, a new procedure introduced by Hague, to a much less experienced, but strongly Eurosceptic rival, Iain Duncan Smith. This loss, by a margin of 62% to 38%, was attributed to the former Chancellor's strong pro-European views being increasingly out-of-step with the party members' Euroscepticism. His campaign was managed by Andrew Tyrie.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After choosing not to stand for the leadership after Duncan Smith departed in 2003 in the interests of party unity, he returned to fight the 2005 leadership election. He still retained huge popularity among voters, with 40% of the public believing he would be the best leader. He was accused by Norman Tebbit of being "lazy" whilst leadership rival Sir Malcolm Rifkind suggested that Clarke's pro-European views could have divided the Conservative Party had Clarke won. In the event, Clarke was eliminated in the first round of voting by Conservative MPs. Eventual winner David Cameron appointed Clarke to head a Democracy Task Force as part of his extensive 18-month policy review in December 2005, exploring issues such as the reform of the House of Lords and party funding. Clarke is President of the Tory Reform Group, a liberal, pro-European ginger group within the Conservative Party.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke became known as "an economic and social liberal, an internationalist and a strong supporter of the European idea".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In 2006, he described Cameron's plans for a British Bill of Rights as "xenophobic and legal nonsense".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: On 12 May 2009, "The Daily Telegraph" reported that Clarke had "flipped" his Council Tax. He had told the Parliamentary authorities that his main home was in the Rushcliffe constituency, enabling him to claim a second-home allowance on his London residence, leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill for Council Tax due on that property. However, he told Rushcliffe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire that he spent so little time at his constituency address that his wife Gillian should qualify for a 25% Council Tax (single person's) discount, saving the former Chancellor around £650 per year. Land Registry records showed that Clarke no longer had a mortgage on his Nottinghamshire home where he has lived since 1987. Instead he held a mortgage on his London property, which was being charged to the taxpayer at £480 per month.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In 2009, Clarke became Shadow Business Secretary in opposition to then-Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson. David Cameron described Clarke as about the only one able to challenge Mandelson and Brown's economic credibility. Two days later it was revealed that Clarke had warned in a speech a month earlier that President Barack Obama could see David Cameron as a "right-wing nationalist" if the Conservatives maintained Eurosceptic policies and that Obama would "start looking at whoever is in Germany or France if we start being isolationist". The "Financial Times" said "Clarke has in effect agreed to disagree with the Tories' official Eurosceptic line".


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: On 12 May 2010, Clarke's appointment as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in the Coalition Government formed between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. James Macintyre, political editor of "Prospect", argued that in this ministerial role he had instigated a process of radical reform.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In June 2010, Clarke signalled an end to short prison sentences after warning it was "virtually impossible" to rehabilitate any inmate in less than 12 months. In his first major speech after taking office, Clarke indicated a major shift in penal policy by saying prison was not effective in many cases. This could result in more offenders being handed community sentences. Clarke, who described the current prison population of 85,000 as "astonishing", received immediate criticism from some colleagues in a Party renowned for its tough stance on law and order. He signalled that fathers who fail to pay child maintenance, disqualified drivers and criminals fighting asylum refusals could be among the first to benefit and should not be sent to prison.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: Clarke announced in February 2011 that the Government intended to scrutinise the relationship between the European Court of Human Rights and national parliaments.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In May 2011, controversy related to Clarke's reported views on rape resurfaced after an interview on the radio station BBC 5 Live, where he discussed a proposal to further reduce the sentences of criminals, including rapists, who pleaded guilty pre-trial.


title: Kenneth Clarke

text: In 2011 and 2012, Clarke faced criticism for his Justice and Security Bill, in particular those aspects of it that allow secret trials when "national security" is at stake. "The Economist" stated: "the origins of the proposed legislation lie in civil cases brought by former Guantánamo detainees, the best-known of whom was Binyam Mohamed, alleging that government intelligence and security agencies (MI6 and MI5) were complicit in their rendition and torture". Prominent civil liberties and human rights campaigners argued: "the worst excesses of the war on terror have been revealed by open courts and a free media. Yet the Justice and Security Green Paper seeks to place Government above the law and would undermine such crucial scrutiny."