No shortage of commentators noticed that Boris Johnson saw COVID as his ‘Churchill moment’; his chance to lead Britain to victory against a deadly (in this case, viral) tyrant. But none can claim to have guessed that he actually considered military action against an EU member state to secure vaccines.
Two diplomatic sources claimed over the weekend that the former prime minister asked security services to draw up plans for a raid of a Dutch COVID vaccine factory. He was left “infuriated” after Brussels moved towards restricting exports of AstraZeneca vaccines, which Britain had already paid for, because of the EU’s own rollout troubles. One source told The Daily Mail:
The EU had basically sequestered five million doses of our vaccine. Of course the PM was enraged … He ordered officials to look at all options for responding, and that did include asking the security services to look at whether there were any options for physically going and taking the vaccines from the Netherlands and bringing them here.
Another added:
The EU could not accept the fact that we had negotiated a better deal with AstraZeneca and so they essentially impounded these vaccines in the Netherlands. They were effectively stolen; it was Trumpian. Boris was infuriated, as you would expect, and he wanted to look at every avenue for responding.
It went well beyond trade retaliation; it was diplomatic, security, everything. He felt he was fighting for British lives and at one point he did ask whether there were military options for just going and getting these vaccines.
The story has appeared at a good time for the former prime minister, who is about to appear in front of the official—though widely discredited—COVID Inquiry. It will help to bolster his image as a bold and steadfast defender of the health of the nation.
Ironically, Brussels’ move followed attempts by bloc officials to disparage the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, which is now the focus of legal action due to claims it is defective.
Johnson’s proposed military response was only abandoned “after diplomats warned it would [quite obviously] scupper relations,” according to the Mail. In the end, his government was happy to cooperate with its counterparts on the Continent to help ease tensions.
