Ex-Tory Andrew Bridgen claims MP Crispin Blunt slapped him on head and called him a ‘bastard’
Ex-Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has reported another MP to parliamentary authorities for allegedly slapping him on the back of the head and calling him a “bastard” – a day after he branded him an “unashamed apologist for Hamas”.
Mr Bridgen, who was kicked out of the Conservatives after comparing Covid vaccines with the Holocaust and sharing conspiracy theories online, demanded that Tory MP Crispin Blunt apologise for what he claimed was a “chop” in Parliament on Monday.
Parliamentary officials confirmed they were aware of the incident in the atrium of Portcullis House and said the Commons authorities and the whips’ office were dealing with it.
Mr Blunt, a former minister who represents Reigate and is standing down at the next electoin, has not responded to requests for comment.
Mr Bridgen, who continues to sit as MP for North West Leicestershire and has since joined the fringe Reclaim Party, claimed there was a “number of witnesses” who saw the incident and that they had spoken to Parliament’s authorities after he reported it to security.
“I was sitting at one of the round tables in Portcullis House and he went by the back of me and hit me on the back of the head with his hand and said, ‘You’re a bastard’ and then legged it off,” he said.
“I was just completely shocked. That’s not the behaviour you would expect from a Member of Parliament.
“I’m asking for an apology. It’s just unbelievable behaviour.”
Mr Bridgen claimed that the incident was “completely unprovoked”, although it came a day after he gave an interview to the Daily Express in which he questioned why the Tory whip had not been removed from Mr Blunt when, in 2021, he warned against plans to designate Hamas as a proscribed terrorist organisation.
Mr Blunt had stressed at the time he did not support Hamas but was concerned the decision would have a “chilling effect on effective assistance to Gaza”.
Mr Bridgen had told the newspaper: “A party that expels me on false allegations of antisemitism is happy to keep an MP who opposed Hamas being designated a terror organisation and even claimed it had legitimate targets in Israel.
“Hamas is antisemitic and the Conservatives should be ashamed to have an unashamed apologist for Hamas among its MPs.”
A parliamentary spokesman said: “The Behaviour Code makes clear the standards of behaviour expected of everyone in Parliament – whether MPs, staff, Members’ staff, members of the House of Lords, press, contractors or visitors.
“There is zero tolerance for abuse or harassment.”
