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An MP suspended for comparing Covid-19 vaccines to the Holocaust has insisted he is ‘not antisemitic’.
Former Tory Andrew Bridgen had the whip removed on Wednesday two hours after tweeting several times about the jab.
He, among other things, appeared to blame the roll-out for 50,000 excess deaths recorded last year in the UK and said the jab was the ‘biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust’.
But today, Bridgen, who has represented North West Leicestershire since 2010, apologised for his remarks in a YouTube video.
Sharing the video, he tweeted: ‘Please watch my YouTube video about my suspension as a member of the parliamentary Conservative Party and why I will keep on highlighting important questions surrounding MRNA vaccines.’
‘I’m disappointed that the chief whip, Simon Hart, with the support of the Prime Minister, has chosen to suspend me as a member of the Conservative Parliamentary Party,’ he said in the video.
‘My tweet of the 11th of January was in no way antisemitic. Indeed, it alluded to the Holocaust being the most heinous crime against humanity in living memory.
Andrew Bridgen has a troubling track record of anti-vaccine remarks (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Of course, if anyone is genuinely offended by my use of such imagery, then I apologise for any offence caused.
‘I wholeheartedly refute any suggestions that I am racist and currently, I’m speaking to a legal team who will commence action against those who have led the call suggesting that I am.’
Bridgen claimed the government is ‘actively (looking) to remove MPs’ who question the vaccine.
Perhaps referring to the two entire anti-vaccine protesters who showed up in Westminster Tube station after his suspension, Bridgen said he’s received ‘huge support’.
Vowing to ‘continue to ask’ questions about the safety of vaccines, Bridgen added: ‘The fact that I have been suspended over this matter says much about the current state of our democracy, the right to free speech and the apparent suspension of the scientific method of analysis of medicines being administered to billions of people.’
Tory chief whip Simon Hart said on Wednesday: ‘Andrew Bridgen has crossed a line, causing great offence in the process.
‘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.’
Bridgen said coronavirus jabs are ‘the biggest crime against humanity since the Holicaust’ (Picture: NurPhoto/PA Images
In the since-deleted tweet, the now-independent MP wrote: ‘As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.’
He made the comment as he shared a post from the far-right libertarian financial blog, Zero Hedge.
The website is known for pushing various fringe conspiracy theories as well as pro-Russian views, US intelligence officials have claimed.
Bridgen’s tweet was widely condemned on both sides of the aisle as well as by Jewish groups.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said comparing the vaccination programme to the Holocaust was ‘utterly unacceptable’.
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said: ‘Andrew Bridgen has been spreading dangerous misinformation on Covid vaccines for some time now. He could have been disciplined weeks ago.
Two anti-vaccine protesters showed their support for Andrew Bridgen at Westminster underground station (Picture: PA)
‘To invoke the Holocaust as he did today is utterly shameful but it should never have reached this point.’
Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said Bridgen’s tweet was ‘highly irresponsible, wholly inappropriate and an elected politician should know better’.
While the American Jewish Committee tweeted: ‘Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. COVID vaccines have saved millions.
‘The false and outrageous comparisons must end.’
Bridgen, a hard-line Brexit backer who has rebelled against three prime ministers, has long been critical of policies such as lockdown and vaccine passports.
But over autumn last year, he began spewing vastly debunked claims around vaccine safety and efficacy, such as misinterpreting data on vaccine injuries to make it sound more widespread.
Before having the whip removed, Bridgen had already been serving a five-day House of Commons suspension for breaching lobbying rules.
A cross-party committee found Bridgen had repeatedly broken the MPs’ code of conduct.
Metro.co.uk contacted Andrew Bridgen for comment.
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He threatened legal action against anyone who suggests otherwise.
