The United Kingdom drew up a secret “military” plan to effectively invade a European Union nation and staunch ally at the height of the pandemic.
The wild claim has come as former British prime minister Boris Johnson fronts an inquiry about Britain’s response to Covid-19.
Britain saw 230,000 deaths during the pandemic but also had one of the world’s fastest vaccine rollouts.
The probe has seen Mr Johnson apologise for the how his government handled the pandemic as he has admitted that he was too slow to act.
But the ex-PM may also want to apologise to the Netherlands after claims he drew up plans to conduct a “raid” on a Dutch vaccine plant.
The extraordinary allegation was published in the Daily Mail.
In mid-2020, the UK government signed a deal with British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca for the delivery of millions of doses of its Covid-19 vaccination, produced with Oxford University.
The EU, which the UK had left months earlier as part of Brexit, also signed a deal with AstraZeneca to supply the jab to its member states.
But while jab provisions to Britain were going smoothly, with the country a global leader in administering the vaccine, by early 2021 the pharmaceutical firm had advised Brussels that it would deliver millions fewer shots to the EU by the promised deadline due to production delays.
European leaders were particularly unimpressed that a factory producing some of the AstraZeneca vaccines for the UK was located in the Netherlands, part of the EU.
The EU effectively then blocked the export of Dutch made vaccines to Britain. There were claims five million doses of AstraZeneca’s jab that were paid for by the UK actually found their way to France.
At the time, the EU said it wanted its “fair share” of shots produced within the EU.
‘Military options’
The Mail report said Mr Johnson was “enraged” by the EU’s actions which he put down to them drawing up a less stringent contract with the firm.
Two diplomatic sources told the newspaper that Mr Johnson asked for plans to be drawn up to physically take the vaccines from the plant in Leiden, 22km north of The Hague, by force if necessary.
“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 said.
“They were effectively stolen; it was Trumpian”.
Mr Johnson “wanted to look at every avenue for responding,” the sourced added.
“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.
“At that point the EU’s actions were so aggressive that it did not seem such an outlandish idea”.
Johbson dissuaded
The source said it wasn’t clear how far the military incursion plan got.
But Mr Johnson was dissuaded from the idea after he was warned any action to forcibly take the AstraZeneca drugs could backfire as it would then jeopardise an even larger British order for Pfizer jabs that were also being produced in the EU.
The vaccine supply fracas was defused when the UK managed to additionally source jabs produced in India.
It’s also claimed that the EU had threatened to place border controls on the Republic of Ireland border to prevent EU made jabs entering Northern Ireland and therefore the UK.
While the island of Ireland is split between the Republic and Britain, there are no permanent frontier controls in place, even after the UK left the EU.
In addition, Mr Johnson is also said to have had a “furious call” with French President Emmanuel Macron over the vaccine furore and an “even worse” conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Mr Johnson has not commented on the claims but may refer to it as he continues to talk at the inquiry.
During his evidence, the now newspaper columnist admitted his government hadn’t acted quickly enough when Covid emerged and at the state underestimated the risks posed by the virus.
He said he took responsibility for all decisions made and he understood the public’s anger, Reuters reported.
“Can I say that I understand the feelings of the victims and their families, and I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and the suffering,” Mr Johnson said.