LONDON — A Conservative MP has been stripped of the party whip after peddling “misinformation” about the COVID-19 vaccine on Twitter.
In a now-deleted tweet posted Wednesday, Andrew Bridgen shared a link to a vaccine-related article on the far-right blog ZeroHedge and said: “As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust.”
Within minutes of the post, Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart — whose job is to enforce party discipline — said in a statement: “Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives. I am removing the Whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation.”
Bridgen has been increasingly critical of the COVID-19 vaccine online in recent months, but has seen his claims repeatedly pulled up by fact-checkers.
He is already barred from the House of Commons for five days for an unrelated breach of its lobbying rules. Bridgen did not respond to a request for comment.
