British MP Andrew Bridgen has joined the far-right Reclaim party after being ousted from the ruling Conservative Party. The party, which was founded in 2020 and has campaigned against corona lockdowns with right-wing populist slogans, thus holds a mandate in parliament for the first time.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tories expelled Bridgen a few weeks ago after the 58-year-old compared corona vaccinations to the Holocaust. “As a consultant cardiologist told me, this is the greatest crime against humanity since the Holocaust,” Bridgen tweeted about the vaccine’s alleged side effects. The Tory leadership around Sunak had sharply criticized the statement.
Bridgen, who has represented the central English constituency of North West Leicestershire in the House of Commons since 2010, repeatedly attracts attention with conspiracy theory statements, especially about corona vaccinations, and has been repeatedly reprimanded for them.
The MP said Reclaim “respects freedom of expression on the basis of every aspect of our democracy and our society”. (dpa)
