Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire and previous Conservative MP, has issued at threat to Matt Hancock.
Matt Hancock, previously Health Secretary, the MP for West Suffolk responded to a tweet by Bridgen.
Andrew Bridgen was a Conservative MP but had the Tory whip removed following tweets relating to the covid vaccine. Bridgen tweeted on 11 January suggesting that the safety of covid vaccines can be likened to the Holocaust.
Matt Hancock tweeted on the same day that “disgusting and dangerous antisemitic, anti-vax, anti-scientific conspiracy theories spouted by a sitting MP this morning are unacceptable and have absolutely no place in our society”.
Bridgen’s tweet was condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as unacceptable, and an investigation saw Bridgen lose the Tory whip, therefore leaving him as an independent MP.
Matt Hancock is also an independent MP, after losing the Whip for choosing to appear on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here when Parliament was sitting.
Bridgen has defended his comments and instructed The Bad Law Project, with the support of the Reclaim Party, led by actor Laurence Fox, to send a letter to Matt Hancock.
In the letter, Hancock is accused of defamation, with his words being deemed libellous. Hancock is asked to retract the statement, submit an apology in the Commons and pay £100,000.00 to charity.
Hancock has responded through a spokesperson, confirming that he does not retract his statement, he doesn’t deem such to be libellous and will not be responding further.
It will be interesting to see if this dispute blows over or does amount to a claim. If you would like to discuss defamation, then please get in touch with the team today.
