UK politician suspended for comparing COVID-19 shots to Holocaust
A member of the ruling Conservative Party in Britain has been demoted for equating the COVID-19 vaccination with the Holocaust.
The introduction of the vaccine, according to Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, is “the largest crime against humanity” since the Nazi Germany’s mass murder of Jews during World War II.
Conservative chief whip Simon Hart announced Bridgen’s suspension on Wednesday, saying the 58-year-old had “stepped a line” and caused “grave offence.”
As a country, Hart said, “we should be extremely proud of what has been accomplished through the immunization program.” The vaccine is our best line of defense against COVID.
“Vaccine misinformation harms people and claims lives. In light of this, I am revoking Andrew Bridgen’s whip with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation, stated Hart.
A link to a COVID-19 vaccine post on a website that promotes conspiracy theories was tweeted by Bridgen, a longtime opponent of the vaccines, who added the following comment: “As one consulting cardiologist said to me, this is the largest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.”
As a result of his suspension, he will serve as an independent member of Parliament in the House of Commons while a formal investigation is conducted.
Bridgen’s comment, according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, was “very inappropriate.”
In Parliament, he declared, “I’m determined that the plague of anti-Semitism is abolished. “Our society cannot tolerate it at all.”
