Rishi Sunak has slammed the ‘utterly unacceptable’ actions of a Tory MP who compared the Covid vaccine rollout to the Holocaust.
Andrew Bridgen was stripped of the party whip after an astonishing outburst on Twitter that led to widespread condemnation from politicians, Jewish groups and medical experts.
The MP for North West Leicestershire has made a series of anti-vaxxer claims on social media and in the Commons chamber in recent weeks.
But action was finally taken against him this morning after he shared an article on the Pfizer and Moderna jabs online, based on safety data reportedly from US health agencies, and added: ‘As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust.’
Mr Sunak voiced his own anger after the comment, made in a now-deleted Tweet, was raised by former health secretary Matt Hancock at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Tory chief whip Simon Hart took action because the remarks ‘crossed a line’, and other senior Tory MPs lined up to criticise his remarks.
One said they were ‘disgraceful’ and another warned that if he prevented people from being vaccinated he would have ‘blood on his hands’.
It caps a turbulent period for the now independent MP, who is currently serving a five-day Commons ban for breaking rules on paid lobbying.
Andrew Bridgen shared an article on the Pfizer and Moderna jabs on Twitter, which was based on safety data published by US health agencies
The Tory MP for North West Leicestershire said: ‘As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust’
Chief whip Simon Hart said Mr Bridgen’s ‘crossed the line’ and removed the whip with ‘immediate effect’ pending a formal investigation
The tweet gained 150,000 views in just two hours, with dozens of users of the social media platform hitting out at the ‘disgusting analogy’ and labelling him ‘dangerous’.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, told MailOnline: ‘We find it disturbing particularly as we approach Holocaust Memorial Day that some people think it’s appropriate to invoke the imagery of the Holocaust to score political points.
‘The murder of six million people is not a subject for flippant analogies or political exploitation. There are other ways in which people can get their messages across, without using genocide as shock value. We owe it to victims of the Holocaust – and survivors – not to minimise their pain and suffering.’
At Prime Minister’s Questions, former health secretary Matt Hancock highlighted the ‘disgusting, anti-Semitic, anti-vax conspiracy theories’.
Without referring directly to Mr Bridgen, the former Cabinet minister said the comments were ‘not only deeply offensive but anti-scientific and have no place in this House or in our wider society’.
Mr Sunak responded by ‘completely condemning those kinds of comments we saw this morning in the strongest possible terms’.
‘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.
Announcing Mr Bridgen’s suspension, Chief whip Simon Hart said the MP had ‘crossed a line, causing great offence in the process’.
‘As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme,’ he said.
‘The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that we have. Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives.
‘I am therefore removing the whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation.’
One Tory friend of Mr Bridgen told MailOnline the situation is ‘really sad’ and the disgraced MP was overshadowing ‘good work’ he had done in the past.
‘If it is the end of his career it is sad,’ the MP said.
But Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said the tweet was ‘disgraceful’.
And Michael Fabricant, Tory MP for Lichfield, said if Mr Bridgen’s comment ‘deters people from being vaccinated and causes deaths as a direct consequence, he’ll have blood on his hands’.
‘His tweets are wholly irresponsible,’ he added.
Lord Mann, the Government’s adviser on anti-Semitism, said: ‘There is no possibility that Bridgen can be allowed to stand at the next election. He cannot claim that he didn’t realise the level of offence that his remarks cause.’
It is not the first time Mr Bridgen has faced criticism for his views on Covid vaccines.
He tweeted about an essay in a publication affiliated to the British Medical Journal and claimed it ‘confirmed’ the vaccine ‘more harm than benefit to younger people’.
‘The roll out must be suspended and children must not be put at risk through these experimental mRNA treatments,’ he said.
But the BMJ last week hit back at Mr Bridgen, arguing his comment was ‘misleading for several reasons’.
A spokesperson for the publication said: ‘The JME aims to further the ethical analysis of key issues in healthcare.
‘The views, analysis, and conclusions reached in its content belong to the authors, not the journal itself.
‘The article develops an argument about the ethics of mandatory Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid vaccine booster doses in some American universities.
‘It does not claim that Covid vaccines are unsafe, only that based on the available evidence, the risk-benefit ratio doesn’t justify mandating booster shots in college students, in the authors’ opinion.’
And in December, Mr Bridgen claimed that someone in a ‘prominent leadership role’ in the British Heart Foundation was ‘covering up clear data that reveals the mRNA vaccine increases inflammation of the heart arteries’.
Anti-vax protesters showing support for Andrew Bridgen at Westminster underground station in London today
Mr Bridgen presented no evidence to support his claims, other than it being from a ‘whistleblower from a very reliable source’.
The BHF said it did not recognise Mr Bridgen’s comments and strongly refuted his allegations.
The MP is currently on the second day of a five-day suspension from the Commons.
The move was recommended by the Standards Committee after Mr Bridgen failed to declare a financial interest in Mere Plantations — a reforestation company with links to Ghana but based in the UK — which he was lobbying on behalf of.
A report by the committee states he failed to declare that he was paid £12,000 by the company in ‘eight emails to ministers, and in five meetings with public officials’.
Mr Bridgen’s actions were described as ‘careless and cavalier’ and led him to breach the MPs’ code of conduct.
The committee also determined he attempted to influence Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone, who conducted the investigation.
He reportedly told her he had heard a ‘rumour’ that she would only receive a peerage if she ruled against him.
In other health news…
