Bridgen

I have received a substantial email correspondence in support of a speech in Parliament by my colleague Andrew Bridgen MP, demanding that the Covid-19 vaccination program be discontinued on the ground that it presents a greater danger than the disease itself.

The emails expressed outrage that the Commons Chamber was virtually empty when Bridgen delivered his speech. As it happens, I was listening at the time he gave it, but the reason the that the Chamber was empty was because it was the end-of-day Adjournment debate:  There is a ballot for the half-hour slot at the end of each day’s parliamentary business. The successful applicant gets 15 minutes to speak on his chosen topic and the minister with responsibility has 15 in which to reply. Nobody else is expected to participate. As the debate falls at the very end of day’s whipped business, the Chamber empties and in is not uncommon for only the four MPs to be left: the member who secured the slot, the minister answering, the duty whip and Mr Speaker. No particular indifference or disrespect was being displayed on this occasion.

Mr Bridgen has since been suspended from the Commons and some of my correspondents have emailed to express outrage at this denial of freedom of speech. Their concern is entirely misplaced: Bridgen’s suspension was for a breach of the lobbying rules that has been going through the quasi-judicial processes for some time and has nothing to do with the recent speech on vaccines.
Nevertheless, the claims that Mr Bridgen made are very serious and demand answers. There has been plenty of coverage on social media, but the issue has been almost completely ignored by the press and broadcasters.
Bridgen gave detailed statistics and revealed the sources of his data. Given shocking conclusion that he drew, we deserve a detailed point- by-point rebuttal in defence of the current vaccination policy.
Both public and Parliament benefited from detailed independent expert questioning of the models and data presented by the advocates of lockdown. Equally, we would now benefit if the medical establishment were to answer Mr Bridgen and justify their policy scientifically.

At the hight of the ‘witch craze’ hysteria that accompanied the pandemic, I was denounced for being ‘anti-vax’ and Cabinet members demanded that I recant and apologise. Comment in one national newspaper -whilst not exactly saying that I was a child molester nevertheless suggested that I looked like one!
I was never ‘anti-vax’, I was just opposed to the policy of lockdown, the disastrous consequences of which are becoming ever more apparent. On the contrary, I welcomed the vaccine as a great scientific breakthrough and as the means of our escape from the dreadful lockdowns. (Though I believed that the vaccination effort should be confined to those who are particularly vulnerable to the disease, and I was never persuaded that it was wise to extend it to Children).

Serious questions have been raised about the wisdom of continuing with the current policy. They need to be addressed in detail, but they are simply being ignored.