Former MEP and vocal Covid sceptic Daniel Hannan was introduced in the House of Lords today as Lord Hannan of Kingsclere.
A ‘leading light of Vote Leave’, he was named on a list of 16 new political peers announced in December alongside Tory donor Peter Cruddas and others.
Last year, at the start of the pandemic, he posted a blog on Conservative Home arguing that the coronavirus had been wrapped up in “alarmism, doom-mongering and panic”.
Reacting to a Sunday Times piece warning that the epidemic was set to sweep across Britain, he wrote:
“You’re unlikely to be killed by the coronavirus. Yes, the disease is unpleasant; and, yes, in some circumstances, it can cause complications that lead to fatalities.”
But he argued it is unlikely to be that lethal.
This will raise the level of debate in the Lords. pic.twitter.com/xsM21wSgX7
— Tim Walker (@ThatTimWalker) February 1, 2021
He also shared misgivings about the very house he has just been admitted to in his book The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain.
Jointly written with former Tory and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, the book states that the composition of the upper house of parliament “is impossible to reconcile with the principle of direct democracy”.
Hannan and Carswell wrote: “A largely appointed chamber is the worst of all imaginable worlds.
“The current chamber, whatever the individual qualities of its members, embodies everything that is wrong with the administration of Britain.
“It is made up of people who can pass laws without having to justify themselves to those who must obey their laws.”
Related: Covid cases fall up to four times faster in rich parts of UK, data reveals
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