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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Hamish Morrison

Andrew Bridgen quits as Reclaim Party's sole MP in humbling blow for Laurence Fox

LAURENCE Fox’s Reclaim Party has been dealt a humbling blow after its only MP quit.

Andrew Bridgen, who was expelled from the Conservatives for comparing the Covid vaccine roll-out to the Holocaust, insisted he still “wholeheartedly” supported the party’s policies but claimed he had to “put North West Leicestershire first, above any party allegiance”.

He was taken in by the former actor’s political party after he was ditched by the Tories over his incendiary comments about vaccines – which also included claiming the British Heart Foundation was involved in a conspiracy to cover up the “harms” of taking the jab.

In addition to his vaccine comments, he was also suspended from the Commons for five days at the start of the year over multiple breaches of lobbying rules.

The MP was found by the Commons sleaze watchdog to have approached ministers and officials on behalf of a company called Mere Plantations – which had given him a donation, a trip to Ghana and the offer of an advisory contract.

With an eye on next year’s General Election, Bridgen said: “I will continue standing up and fighting for the people of North West Leicestershire and delivering what is best for them.

“I have consistently campaigned against HS2 since my first election in 2010, I have been at the forefront of exposing scandals such as the modern day slavery cover up in Leicester and the Post Office Horizon scandal which was debated in the House of Commons yesterday.

“I have been standing up for those who have been injured by vaccines and exposing the worrying cover up of trends in excess deaths on a national and indeed global scale.”

Reclaim have a co-operation agreement with Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party), which has so far resulted in a string of election defeats.

Fox (above) ran in the London mayoral elections in 2021, finishing sixth with just 1.9% of the vote.

He was also sacked from GB News this year after making sexist comments on air about a journalist who appeared on the channel. 

The party lost their deposit in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election earlier this year, gaining 2.3% of the vote.

Reclaim were approached for comment.

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