MP Andrew Bridgen to join Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party after Tory expulsion

09 May 2023 , 14:32

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Andrew Bridgen was kicked out by the Tories after comparing the vaccine rollout to the Holocaust (Image: PA)

Shamed MP Andrew Bridgen is expected to join The Reclaim Party after being expelled by the Conservatives for comparing the Covid jab to the Holocaust.

The North West Leicestershire MP had the whip suspended in January after provoking outrage by saying the life-saving vaccine rollout was "the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust".

He was permanently expelled by the Conservative party last month.

Mr Bridgen, who has been sitting as an independent MP, is understood to be poised to join the right-wing Reclaim Party, run by controversial former actor Laurence Fox.

The move would give the hard-line party its first MP - and one of its only elected representatives.

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Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox (PA)

Mr Bridgen's defection is expected to be confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday, according to the Guido Fawkes blog.

The Mirror previously revealed that the anti-vaxx MP accepted nearly £8,000 worth of support from Reclaim, which has positioned itself to challenge the "woke orthodoxy".

Reclaim the Media, an offshoot of Reclaim, also paid for Mr Bridgen’s legal threats against former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who condemned him for his remarks about the Covid vaccine.

Mr Bridgen said that he would run against the party at the next election in a rant about "corruption, collusion and cover-ups".

The backbencher accused the Tories of sacking him under false pretences and moaned that he was a victim of a "toxic culture" in politics that prevented free speech.

It comes after he was recently involved in an altercation with Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson and the father of Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie in a Commons restaurant.

Combative Mr Anderson was said to have told 69-year-old ex-Tory councillor Sebastian Leslie to "come outside and we'll sort it out" in a row over Mr Bridgen being kicked out of the party.

Earlier this year, Mr Bridgen was suspended from Parliament for five sitting days after breaching lobbying rules.

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

Lizzy Buchan