First elected in 2010, Andrew Bridgen was a Conservative MP known for the occasional scandal. Then, in January 2023, Bridgen had the Conservative whip suspended after comparing the vaccine rollout to the Holocaust, and was expelled from the party in April 2023.

Bridgen joined Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party in May 2023, but left in December, over “a difference in direction”, and stood as an independent in the July 2024 general election. He lost his deposit in the election, receiving just 1,568 votes (3.2%).

Since losing his seat in Parliament, Bridgen’s conspiracism has become even more extreme. As well as claiming that his poor election performance was the result of a sinister plot rather than his own unpopularity, Bridgen has spent his post-parliamentary life referring to world leaders as the puppets of shadowy “globalist” masters, who have, apparently, pushed “the Net Zero hoax for money and control over you” and sought war with Russia to “cover for the lies they have told you” and “gain control of their $75 trillion of natural resources”. He has also continued to propagate conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, declaring in January 2026, for instance, that “both the Covid 19 virus and the Covid 19 ‘vaccines’ were bioweapons”.

The former-MP-turned-conspiracy-theorist was due to speak at Tommy Robinson‘s September “Unite the Kingdom” rally, but was unable to do so as the event ran out of time.