Vaccine Critic Andrew Bridgen Loses Seat in General Election

Andrew Bridgen, a file photo issued on Jan. 11, 2023. (PA)

Independent former MP Andrew Bridgen, who became a champion for the vaccine injured and bereaved in Parliament and was kicked out of the Tory party because of his outspoken views, has lost his seat in north west Leicestershire, finishing in sixth place.

The seat fell to Labour in a landslide victory for the party with Amanda Hack becoming MP and Mr. Bridgen taking just 1,568 votes.

In a strong showing for Nigel Farage’s party, Reform UK took second place with 9,678 votes to Ms. Hack’s 16,871.

Mr. Bridgen was not on stage for the announcement which saw him also place behind the Conservative, Green, and Liberal Democrat candidates who finished third, fourth, and fifth respectively.

The former MP, who served his constituency since 2010, has not yet commented on the result although several of his supporters from across the country expressed their dismay at the result on social media.

He was expelled by the Tories in April 2023 following a social media post in which he said an Israeli consultant cardiologist had told him the deaths and injuries resulting from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout amounted to “the worst crime against humanity since the Holocaust.”

Ongoing Libel Trial Against Matt Hancock

Although he was quoting a doctor in the post on X, then known as Twitter, he was accused in a post by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock of spreading “anti-science, anti-semitic conspiracy theories” after he tried to raise the issue of vaccine damage during Prime Minister’s Questions on the same day as his expulsion from the party.

Mr. Bridgen is suing Mr.Hancock for libel in an ongoing High Court battle.

Mr. Hancock stepped down as an MP before the election, having also lost the Tory whip for appearing on a reality show, I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here! He was readmitted to the party just after the general election was announced, although he did not contest his West Sussex seat.

Mr. Bridgen led a number of parliamentary debates highlighting vaccine damage and the ongoing excess deaths since 2021 and has repeatedly claimed that the jabs are the driver for excess deaths.

Although at first very sparsely attended, a growing trickle of MPs did support him in the debates, with a cross-party call to investigate the excess deaths following the backbench debate he led in April.

Mr. Bridgen briefly joined actor Lawrence Fox’s Reclaim Party after being kicked out by the Tories but left the party to sit as an independent following a difference in opinion over the direction of travel for the party.

The Brexiteer former MP has said that he is proud of his record representing his constituents, pointing to the fact that back in 2011, he correctly championed the innocence of the postmasters falsely accused of theft in the Horizon post office scandal.

As well as calling for an investigation into vaccine safety, Mr. Bridgen has spoken out against the drive for Net Zero and the science around the theory of man-made climate change and against what he termed “militant transgenderism” targeting children.