It’s the first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year today and No. 10 is keen to get off to a good start. So it is perhaps no surprise then that party officials have quickly moved to strip Andrew Bridgen of the Tory whip three hours after an offensive tweet.
The North West Leicestershire MP has raised eyebrows in recent days with his relentless attacks on Covid vaccines. However he was clearly judged to have gone too far this morning when he shared a critical article about the subject and wrote ‘As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust.’
An outcry immediately followed. Fellow Conservative MP Simon Clarke described his claim as ‘disgraceful’ while former Tory MP Christian Wakeford said it was ‘despicable’ to make such a comparison during the month of Holocaust Memorial. He added ‘When is it enough for the Tories to withdraw the whip?’
Clearly it was enough for Chief Whip Simon Hart.
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