Boris Johnson, the previous UK prime minister, disclosed that he instructed military leaders to organise an operation against a Netherlands-based factory in early 2021 to obtain five million Covid-19 vaccines. This happened amidst a threat from the EU to prevent the vaccines’ export to Britain.
Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, the deputy head of the UK’s defence staff at the time, had informed Johnson that it would be feasible to execute the assault using small boats to traverse the English Channel and Dutch canals. However, he cautioned him about potential diplomatic fallout.
Johnson revealed Chalmers, now retired from the army and serving as the chair of the government’s standards committee in public life, advised him that it would be impossible to conduct the operation undetected. Johnson cited Chalmers as stating, “if we are spotted, we would need to explain why we are essentially invading a long-time Nato ally.”
A quote from an excerpt taken from his memoirs published in the Daily Mail newspaper from Saturday revealed Johnson’s reluctancy on whether to admit the plan was not feasible.
No responses were immediately available from Chalmers or the Ministry of Defence in the UK.
The vaccines that incited the dispute were developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, with manufacturing taking place in both the Netherlands and the UK by subcontractors.
In March of 2021, the UK had authorised these vaccines for broad use, but doses produced in the Dutch factory were still awaiting EU approval.
Both the UK and EU held contracts with AstraZeneca for vaccine supply, leading the EU to withhold completed vaccines produced at the Dutch site for future use.
Johnson, who achieved electoral victory in December 2019 based on his pledge to finalise protracted Brexit negotiations, claims he suspected undue influence from French president Emmanuel Macron on EU officials.
According to Johnson, he concluded after two fruitless months of dialogue that the EU was acting vindictively because the UK was outpacing their vaccination rollout. Johnson was ejected from his prime ministerial role in 2022 amidst scandals including Covid regulation breaches. – Reuters