COVID Vaccine Critic MP Andrew Bridgen Kicked Out of Conservative Party

Andrew Bridgen, a file photo issued on Jan. 11, 2023. (PA)

An MP who has been calling for a halt to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has been stripped of his Tory Party membership.

The Tories announced on Wednesday that they have now stripped Andrew Bridgen of his party membership.

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

The Conservatives did not discuss the findings of the disciplinary panel.

Bridgen had already lost the party whip, meaning he was sitting in the Commons as an independent.

This was over comments in March when he posted an article on Twitter (now deleted) saying, “As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Bridgen said: “My expulsion from the Conservative Party under false pretences only confirms the culture of corruption, collusion, and cover-ups which plagues our political system.

“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.

“I will continue to serve my constituents as I was elected to do and intend to stand again at the next election.”

Some are wondering if Bridgen would run at the next election with an alternative political party.

The Reclaim Party, founded and led by the actor Laurence Fox, released a statement that it “fully supports” Bridgen’s “right and indeed obligation to give a voice in Parliament to any issue of concern raised by his constituents.”

It said that this was a “fundamental issue of free speech which has often been shut down in recent years.”

The Reclaim Party “has no further comment to make at this time,” it added.

Accusations of Anti-Semitism

After Bridgen wrote the Holocaust comments, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the comments were “utterly unacceptable.”

“Obviously it is utterly unacceptable to make linkages and use language like that and I’m determined that the scourge of anti-Semitism is eradicated,” he told MPs.

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the words were “disgusting, anti-Semitic, anti-vax conspiracy theories,” without referring directly to Bridgen.

Hancock added the comments were “not only deeply offensive but anti-scientific and have no place in this House or in our wider society.”

Earlier that month, Bridgen was handed a five-day suspension for breaking the MPs’ code of conduct banning lobbying.

He was found to have committed a series of breaches including an “unacceptable attack upon the integrity” of then-standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.

mRNA Vaccines and WHO Criticism

Bridgen also made a claim in a parliamentary debate in December, in which he called for an “immediate” suspension of the use of mRNA vaccines.

He claimed that a person within a “prominent leadership role” in the British Heart Foundation had sent non-disclosure agreements to researchers to prevent data on potential harms from being made public.

In response, the British Heart Foundation released a statement on social media that said it “did not recognise these claims” and that it strongly refuted “all allegations made about colleagues in senior leadership roles” within the organisation.

In the parliamentary debate on vaccine harms, Bridgen said that there is a “key psychological barrier that has prevented these facts from being acknowledged by policymakers and taken up by the UK mainstream media.”

“That psychological phenomenon is wilful blindness. It is when human beings—including, in this case, institutions—turn a blind eye to the truth in order to feel safe, reduce anxiety, avoid conflict, and protect their prestige and reputations,” he added.

In April, MPs debated whether the government should hold a referendum on the UK’s involvement in the WHO pandemic treaty (pdf).

Bridgen said that he was “really worried whether colleagues have actually read the treaty.”

“Because clearly when we take out the words ‘not binding’ through an amendment, it becomes binding. These are binding treaties: if we do nothing, they are binding, legally binding across all the nations,” he said.

Andrew Bridgen didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

PA Media contributed to this report.