By Tess Rushin

Andrew Bridgen compared the Covid-19 vaccine rollout to the Post Office scandal in a speech in Parliament this week (Wednesday, January 31). 

The North West Leicestershire MP asked the Prime Minister if he was going to 'sit back and do nothing' about the vaccines, which he has repeatedly claimed are ineffective and ultimately harmful.

Mr Bridgen's vocal opposition to the Covid jabs has sparked wider concerns about misinformation, with some insisting his views "can harm health". 

In August last year, Full Fact, an independent charity of fact checkers, debunked claims made by the Ashby MP in a letter he sent to the Prime Minister. 

In it, Mr Bridgen claimed he had "peer-reviewed" evidence from a Swiss study which showed three shots of a Moderna Covid-19 vaccination led to a "one in 35 chance of heart damage". 

However, campaigners at Full Fact said the letter misrepresented the facts of the study, saying the MP's stance was both "misleading" and "inaccurate".

At Prime Minister's question time this week, Mr Bridgen, who until recently represented the Reclaim Party in Parliament, made reference to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, claiming that the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, misled the house by promoting and endorsing the system as perfect. 

He went on to ask if Rishi Sunak could think of anything he had promoted which has ultimately harmed people – taken by Mr Sunak as a thinly veiled reference to the jabs. He further made reference to his belief they were ineffective.

During the debate, Mr Bridgen claimed: "More than two decades ago, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair misled this house by promoting and endorsing the Post Office Horizon IT system as perfect, protecting the large corporation that created it, and causing untold harm and damage and misery to innocent people. 

"Can the current Prime Minister think of anything he has promoted, in partnership with huge businesses, as safe and effective which has ultimately harmed the British people? 

"And will he use this opportunity to correct that safe and effective statement or will he choose the same line as Tony Blair – sit back do nothing and let the misery just continue to pile up?"

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded: "The Horizon scandal is a terrible miscarriage of justice and we are doing everything that we can to make it right. 

"To what he was more broadly insinuating, let me be unequivocal from this dispatch box that Covid vaccines are safe."

Mr Bridgen posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, afterwards, saying: "The PM's answer to my question did not say the Covid 19 'vaccines' were effective. 

"Even if they were safe, which they are not, who would take an experimental treatment that is not effective?

"I wonder if @RishiSunak will follow Tony Blair's lead of sitting back and doing nothing?"