Former Tory MP Andrew Bridgen expelled permanently from party

Andrew Bridgen, the formerly Conservative MP who lost the Tory whip after comparing the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust, has been expelled permanently from the party.

Bridgen, who has been in parliament since 2010, has sat as an independent since his much-condemned vaccine comment in January, which followed an apparent embrace of wider Covid conspiracy theories by the North West Leicestershire MP.

He was suspended for a tweet that linked to an article from ZeroHedge, a libertarian and conspiracy theory website, which purported to show the health risks from Covid vaccines.

Bridgen wrote: “As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.”

It followed weeks of Bridgen sending increasingly anti-vaccine social media posts, as well as messages to journalists, many of which openly backed conspiracy theories.

A Conservative spokesperson said: “Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative party on 12 April following the recommendation of a disciplinary panel. He has 28 days from this date to appeal.”

In a statement, Bridgen said his expulsion “only confirms the culture of corruption, collusion and cover-ups which plagues our political system”. He said: “I have been a vocal critic of the vaccine rollout and the party have been sure to make an example of me. I am grateful for my newfound freedom and will continue to fight for justice for all those harmed, injured and bereaved due to governmental incompetence.”

In a tweet, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was pleased at the expulsion, adding: “Suggesting that Covid vaccines are the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust is not an opinion which should be countenanced in any serious political party.”

Since losing the Tory whip, Bridgen has made links to the Reclaim party led by the actor Laurence Fox, which has also embraced conspiracy theories on Covid vaccines, as well as on other subjects.

Bridgen’s register of interests as an MP shows Reclaim gave him £6,000 for “legal consultancy” and has also covered the costs for “meetings, lunches, dinners and counselling”.

It is not known if Bridgen plans to sit in the Commons as an MP for the tiny party, which took 1.9% of the vote when Fox stood to be London mayor in 2021, only just beating the novelty candidate Count Binface.

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Shortly before he lost the whip, Bridgen was suspended from the Commons for five days after being found to have breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests.

Bridgen was found to have approached ministers and officials on behalf of a forestry company, Mere Plantations, that had given him a donation, a visit to Ghana and the offer of an advisory contract, a role that ended up being unpaid.

Two of the days were recommended by the committee for the breaches of rules on advocacy and interests. The other three days of suspension were advised in response to what the committee said was a “completely unacceptable” attempt by Bridgen to put pressure on Kathryn Stone, the then-parliamentary commissioner for standards.