Who is Victoria Atkins' husband, Paul Kenward? UK Health Secretary takes dig at junior doctors, sparks outrage on internet

On December 21, 2023, UK Health Secretary Victoria Atkins caused an uproar on social media for taking a dig at junior doctors, referring to them as "doctors in training." In an interview with the BBC, Victoria Atkins said:

“The last cohort is junior doctors – or doctors in training, as I prefer to call them – and they, sadly to my great disappointment, walked out of our negotiations and then called these strikes.”

This insensitive comment made by Victoria Atkins comes on the second day of the junior doctors' 72-hour England-wide strike over pay.

The strike, which began at 7 am on December 20, 2023, and will end at 7 am on December 22, 2023, was announced by the British Medical Association (BMA) after months of talk between the junior doctors and the government yielded no resolution, as reported by The Independent.

The strike, the longest in National Health Service (NHS) history, is said to be followed by a six-day walkout in January 2024.

According to The Sun, Victoria Atkins, who became the UK's new Health Secretary on November 13, 2023, following PM Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle, is married to Paul Kenward, a British businessman and CEO of ABF Sugar, one of the world's largest sugar companies.

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What do we know about Paul Kenward, Victoria Atkins' husband?

Born on November 10, 1973, Paul Kenward is a British businessman who specializes in food products. He was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Kenward was also the President of the Oxford Union for a term in 1996.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kenward started his career in the food industry in 2007 at Associated British Foods. He is the former managing director of British Sugar and Westmill Foods.

He is presently the CEO of ABF Sugar since October 2022. ABF Sugar is one of the largest producers of sugar cane and sugar beet and currently employs 35,000 people.

According to The Sun, Kenward attracted media attention in 2018 when it was revealed that he ran a legal cannabis farm in Wissington, Norfolk. He claimed that the farm was used for growing a non‐psychoactive variety of cannabis that was used in children's epilepsy medicine.

It is unclear when Victoria Atkins and Kenward got married. The two reportedly have a son, Monty, who is 11 years old. On her website, Atkins said that she and her husband spent their free time with Monty, stating:

"We like to spend what little spare time we have going to running around after our son, Monty, building sandcastles on the beautiful Lincolnshire coastline and pulling our boots on to walk the Wolds."

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"Going out of her way to insult and belittle doctors": Social media in an uproar over Victoria Atkins' ignorant comment

Victoria Atkins' shocking ignorance about what junior doctors do has sent X (formerly Twitter) into an uproar, with many calling her competence into question.

According to The Independent, the BMA's junior doctor's committee has said that it will call off the strike if the government makes a better offer regarding their pay. It said that the government's offer of a 3% raise from January 2024 plus the average 9% rise recommended by the independent pay review body in April, was not enough to make up for the below-inflation price rises since 2008.

The committee has asked for a full pay restoration of 35% as stated by the government, which ministers have called unaffordable. The walkout has significantly impacted the help and care being provided to patients amid the rising norovirus cases.

More than 300,000 operations and appointments have allegedly been canceled because of the strikes, the Independent reported.

Victoria Atkins has hinted that a better offer for wages could be on the table if the junior doctors called off their strike. Despite this, the strike continues.