MP welcomes police probe of Piers Corbyn leaflet comparing Covid vaccine to Auschwitz

The leaflet carried a cartoon of the extermination camp where 1.1 million people were murdered between 1940 and 1945
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An MP welcomed a police investigation launched into a leaflet designed by Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers that likened Covid-19 vaccine efforts to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.  

The pamphlet had been hand-delivered in several areas, including Jewish homes in Barnet, north London and to residents in Southwark, south London.  

It carried a cartoon of the extermination camp where 1.1 million people were murdered between 1940 and 1945.  

A sketch of the entrance to Auschwitz in which the gates’ infamous slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) was changed to “Vaccines are safe path to freedom”.

Among false claims, it said “some vaccines contain nanochips which can electronically track recipients”.  

The pamphlet credits the idea of the cartoon to Piers Corbyn, the older brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Scotland Yard said officers were aware of leaflets “in circulation containing information that appears to compare the Covid-19 vaccination programme with the Holocaust”.

A spokesman added: “Detectives from the Met's Public Order Crime Team are reviewing the leaflets to determine if any offences have been committed. No arrests have been made.”  

Southwark Labour MP Neil Coyle said: “I’m glad the police are investigating this offensive material and I hope a prosecution is secured.

“It is important to prevent this offensive Holocaust imagery and appalling anti-vaccine nonsense being circulated.”

Mr Coyle said he had heard of cases where leaflet teams knocked on people’s doors and made them come to their doorstep to talk in an apparent breach of Covid-19 stay-at-home laws.  

Twitter @PaulBrown_UK

He urged anyone with information about such cases to report them to the Met on 101 or online.

Matthew Doyle, a Southwark resident and former Labour Party aide at 10 Downing Street, said: “I was shocked to get one of Piers Corbyn’s vile leaflets through the door.

“To compare the vaccine programme to the horrors of the Holocaust is gross and shocking just a few days after Holocaust Memorial Day.  

“Casting doubts about the vaccine programme in this way is grotesque.

“Piers Corbyn may be a crank but even cranks have consequences.”

This week Mr Corbyn confirmed that he was part of a group that made the leaflet but denied it was offensive.

Asked if he thought the leaflet broke any laws, he said: “Of course not.”  He said he did not know how many copies had been made or distributed.

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