Before 1969 the only contact most UK doctors had with their self-regulatory body the General Medical Council (GMC) was when they qualified and paid a one-off fee to have their names entered on the Medical Register, a list of doctors the GMC deemed adequately trained to practice medicine. But, that year, the GMC announced that in future doctors would have to pay an Annual Retention Fee (ARF) to remain on the Register. The fee angered doctors who believed they had a lifetime contract and were not keen to finance the GMC’s "expansionist ambitions" In a postal ballot, 11,540 "World Medicine" readers voted against the ARF and only 466 in favour.