The Sonia Elijah Podcast · Investigative journalism, forensic style

MP Andrew Bridgen Opens Up About the Personal Costs of the Fight

·44 min·5 clips

Sonia Elijah opens with Andrew Bridgen laying out the fights he says he is carrying in Parliament. He names vaccine harms, excess deaths, opposition to the WHO pandemic agreement, amendments to the international health regulations, and his suspicion that net zero targets could be used to advance digital ID and digital currency. Elijah then circles back to the break with the Conservative Party. Bridgen says the suspension followed a January 11, 2023 tweet, but that the real pressure began after he spoke publicly in December 2022 about vaccine harms and the COVID-19 response. He frames the suspension as an excuse. The conversation then works back through the timeline. Bridgen says the Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency had asked the government for authorisation at the end of November 2022, and he presents that moment as part of why he felt pushed to speak out. Elijah keeps checking the sequence and asking him to pin down dates. The interview turns to the January 16 debate on excess deaths and the reaction it drew. Bridgen says the debate was well attended, raised awareness, and was followed within weeks by a recalculation at the Office for National Statistics that changed the expected-deaths baseline. He argues that the revised model is complicated and opaque. He also says the timing is telling. Elijah presses him on the figures, including the reported 5 percent excess death rate in 2023 and the higher increase among 50 to 64 year olds. Bridgen says the new calculation reduced the apparent scale of the problem. From there, he moves into accusations of a wider cover-up. He says analysts have helped him press for the data to be released in a format that makes assessment easier, and he treats the institutional response as further evidence of a closed system. The final stretch becomes more personal and reflective. Bridgen talks about conviction, providence, and the feeling that his education in biological sciences, biochemistry, genetics, virology, and behavior prepared him for this moment. The interview closes with thanks and a sense of unfinished conflict. The episode is built as a direct, argument-heavy exchange about public health data, political punishment, and what Bridgen believes is at stake.

As heard by us

A forceful interview about political fallout and data fights.

A combative sit-down, this one traces MP Andrew Bridgen's break with the Conservatives, his claims about vaccine harms and excess deaths, and his warnings over the WHO pandemic agreement, the amendments to the international health regulations, and net zero policy.

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Why you'd press play

Hear how Bridgen turns a political rupture into a full-blown health-policy fight.

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