Boris Johnson says he mulled sending special forces into the Netherlands to grab Covid vaccines. (Image: Getty)
has said he mulled a dramatic plan for UK special forces to “invade” the to “liberate” vaccine supplies.
The former prime minister writes in his memoir, Unleashed, that he summoned military top brass to demand action after two months of talks with Brussels to release five million doses of the jab held in a warehouse.
Mr Johnson writes of his anger in his new book, which is being serialised in the and Mail on Sunday, that supplies of the vaccine had been “kidnapped” by the .
According to the ex-PM, he was told forces could cross the English Channel, work their way up Dutch canals and grab the vaccines.
After lagging way behind the UK in its vaccine roll-out, .
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Boris Johnson says he was told special forces could cross the Channel and seized the jabs. (Image: Getty)
AstraZeneca told the Britain was using a clause in its contract which stopped vaccine exports until demand in the UK market was met.
Brussels initiated a dispute procedure with the company amid calls on the drugmaker to divert doses from Britain to plug a gap in EU supplies.
Court action was averted when promised under a contract with the bloc.
Mr Johnson said in his new book that he eventually agreed with advisers who cautioned that mounting an invasion of a NATO ally would be “nuts”.
Unleashed covers Mr Johnson’s years in politics, including the run-up to the referendum and negotiations with the EU on the UK’s divorce deal.
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The Covid pandemic, Partygate and the Brexit vote feature prominently in Boris Johnson’s new book. (Image: Getty)
The -19 pandemic and Partygate scandal feature prominently in the work, which is due to go on sale on October 10.
The first prime minister to receive a criminal penalty while in office, Mr Johnson’s exit from office came after the brought an avalanche of ministerial resignations.
Mr Johnson sets out his views in the book on the “Tory machinations” which brought about his exit from office in 2022 and gives his opinions on his successors, Liz Truss and .
On Thursday, an extract from Unleashed was published in which Mr Johnson claimed Downing Street and Buckingham Palace asked him to talk to in January 2020 hours after his speech announcing that he and his wife planned to step away from royal life.
The former PM said there was “a ridiculous business” when . Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless”.
In a video clip teasing the release, Mr Johnson said readers could look forward to discovering “which senior politician looks like a bullock having a thermometer shoved unexpectedly up his rectum”.