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