Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson He admits in his political memoirs to have thought of invade the Netherlands via military attack on water Forcarry millions of vaccines of AstraZeneca for Covid-19.
In an extract from his book “Unleashed”, published Friday by the newspaper “Daily Mail”, the former Conservative leader recounts how, after two months of “useless” negotiations with the European Union (EU) for the release of five million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine who were being held in a warehouse in Leiden (Netherlands), he summoned the British armed forces in March 2021 to demand action.
Concretely, Johnson’s plan involved clandestinely crossing the Channel with inflatable boats, navigating through the Dutch canals until reaching the “kidnapped” vaccines, then leaving with an articulated truck, although after consulting his advisers , he ultimately rejected the idea, given the invasion. of a “crazy” NATO ally.
The attack “was feasible”
According to Johnson in the excerpt, Deputy Chief of Defense Staff Lt.-Gen. Doug Chalmers assured that, despite the fact that the the plan was “certainly feasible”it would not be possible to carry it out without being detected by the Dutch authorities.
The operation aimed to seize what, in Johnson’s own words, legally belonged to the UK and which it “desperately needed”, while the EU treated the British government “with malice and resentment”.
“The EU wanted to prevent us from receiving the five million vaccines“, but they have shown no sign of willingness to use the AstraZeneca doses,” Johnson wrote, adding that at that time the European Commission had started a “legal war” with British laboratories, alleging that the company was not respecting its contract with the European Union. establishments.
Complaints that “didn’t make sense” to Johnson, as he said the chair of the UK’s vaccine task force, Kate Bingham, had signed a “bomb-proof” contract with AstraZeneca.
