In 2017, after decades of pressure from victims of the scandal, Theresa May's Government announced there would be a public inquiry into how thousands were given lethal blood products.
Now the reasoning behind the about-turn - the Government had resisted calls for an inquiry for many years - has been revealed in a letter disclosed to Jesmond campaigner Carol Grayson under Freedom of Information laws. A note sent from the office of then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to the Prime Minister shows how public pressure, concern over a cover-up and the efforts of politicians including Diana Johnson and the then-leaders of each opposition party were taken into account in the decision to announce the inquiry.
Carol, whose husband Peter and brother-in-law Steven were both haemophiliacs who died after being given contaminated blood products containing HIV to treat their condition. First with Peter, and since his death in 2005 on her own, Carol has been a vocal campaigner and researcher - including working with the Journal on the Bad Blood campaign in the early 2000s.
