Andrew Bridgen has launched a new campaign website through which he calls for people to join 'Andrew's Army'. The North West Leicestershire MP will be running as an independent candidate in the next General Election, expected to be held later this year.

He has represented the constituency since 2010, sitting as a Conservative until he was ousted by the party for a tweet in which he said Covid vaccines were the "biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust". Mr Bridgen's estranged wife, Nevena Bridgen, told The Times she believed Mr Bridgen had been "radicalised" by "anti-vax cults".

Mr Bridgen then briefly represented Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party in Parliament, acting as its only sitting MP. However, he announced his departure from Reclaim in December 2023, citing a "difference in the direction of the party" as the reason. Political website Guido Fawkes later claimed it was actually due to a spat over a car and a Christmas tree.

Now, the MP has launched his General Election campaign online, stating he will be running for his seat untethered to any political party. The new website boasts the slogan: "Controlled by nobody. Representing everybody."

He added: "You will be told that supporting an Independent is pointless. A waste. But imagine if those green benches in Westminster were packed with hundreds of men and women who thought, as I do, that their bosses are in homes across their constituencies – not the ministerial office down the corridor, or the boardrooms in the City.

"Can you imagine what might happen then? That is the dream of democracy. It is a dream that is dying fast in this country but maybe – just maybe – we can keep it alive in this beautiful corner of England. Maybe then our dreams will prove contagious."

Mr Bridgen said his values were still those of a Conservative. He believed taxes "should be low", the "interference of the State in our lives should be minimal" and that it is the "job of the State" to "provide a safe environment within which citizens can thrive, with secure borders and effective and efficient public services".

He also said he believed the Conservative Party no longer stood for those things. He added: "I have not changed. The Conservative and Unionist Party has."

In his mind, then, this election will be "an experiment" in North West Leicestershire. He said: "We are going to see whether a local man with no party line to tow, whose only loyalty is to the people he grew up around – who he lives amongst and will be buried beside – can be sent by those people to Parliament, fight every single day to represent their interests – and survive there."

His website puts forward five priorities: "Enforcing immigration law, protecting children from militant transgenderism, calling time on the insanity of net zero, fighting the World Health Organisation power grab [and] exposing vaccine harm."

However, he said he could not achieve his mission alone, and called for people to sign up to "Andrew's Army". He said he was looking for "foot soldiers" and "phone soldiers" to help him get his message out.

He said: "We need boots on the ground in North West Leicestershire if we are to overturn the old political order. This is a test case, and our democratic freedoms are on the line. If an Independent who actually cares what his constituents think can win here, then the model can be followed elsewhere. We can change the world, and bring hope back to these blessed isles of ours."

"Being a phone soldier in Andrew's army will require courage," he added. "It will not be a job for the faint hearted.

"But if you share my convictions about the issues I raise and you want to help ensure I can get through to my constituents despite the ever intensifying attempts to cancel me BECOME A PHONE SOLDIER IN ANDREW'S ARMY TODAY."