Expelled ex Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has announced he’s joining Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party - making him its first member of Parliament. At a press conference today Mr Bridgen said he would be standing at his North West Leicestershire constituency at the next general election.
The controversial MP was thrown out of the Tory party for comparing vaccines to the Holocaust. At the press conference this morning Mr Bridgen confirmed he has decided not to appeal - and blasted the Conservative Party.
Laurence Fox’s reclaim party is controversial and has been anti-lockdown and critical of vaccines. Mr Bridgen said: “Even if I were to be given a fair hearing, which I doubt, I would not wish to rejoin the party after the treatment received by myself and my family over the past few years.
“I feel now that the party no longer represents the people of this great country. If I am to represent my constituents and countrymen it must be from outside the party which I have served dutifully for many decades.
“I will be standing again in North West Leicestershire at the next election. Not as a Conservative, but as a Member of the Reclaim Party. More than anything, the Reclaim Party stands for freedom of speech.
“I will cross the floor today, Wednesday 10th May, and sit on the opposition benches as the first Member of Parliament for the Reclaim Party. I say first because I have no doubt I will not be the last. This is just the beginning.
“If the Conservative Party wish to contest my seat they can do so at the next General Election.
“I have more confidence that I will win my seat than the vast majority of sitting Conservative MPs, so I welcome the challenge should the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Party wish to take it.”
The expulsion followed comments made by Mr Bridgen in which he appeared to describe the vaccine rollout as “the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust”. The backbencher is no stranger to controversy, having previously been suspended from the Commons after he was found to have displayed a “very cavalier” attitude to the rules in a series of lobbying breaches.
In March last year, a judge at the High Court ruled that Mr Bridgen acted in an “aggressive and arrogant manner” and gave “dishonest” evidence amid a years-long brotherly feud over a family potato business. In Parliament, Mr Bridgen has been a prominent critic of every Tory prime minister since his election in 2010, with political views that have often been at odds with Conservative government policy.
Mr Bridgen called for David Cameron to be replaced in 2013 before demanding a vote of no confidence in Theresa May over her Brexit approach in 2018. In 2022, the serial rebel became the fifth MP to publicly call for then-prime minister Boris Johnson to resign over lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
Following his expulsion in April, he became embroiled in an “aggressive” confrontation with senior Tory Lee Anderson on the parliamentary estate. The deputy chairman was said to have told a guest of Mr Bridgen, 69-year-old former Tory councillor Sebastian Leslie, to “come outside and we’ll sort it out” as they rowed over the MP being kicked out of the party.
Mr Bridgen has denied he is antisemitic, but defended his language about the jabs. He also threatened to sue Matt Hancock after the former health secretary hit out at the remarks, saying that he “had a legal letter before action from the Bad Law Team on my behalf regarding defamation”.
