Boris Johnson admits he made plans to invade the Netherlands: Here’s why

Yes, you read that right 😳

Thought the COVID-19 drama was behind us? Think again. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson just revealed that he considered an “aquatic raid” on a Dutch warehouse to seize vaccines during the height of the pandemic.

According to The Guardian, Johnson has admitted this in an extract of his memoir, “Unleashed,” parts of which were recently published in the Daily Mail.

As Johnson writes in his book, the intention was that the army would cross the Channel with small boats to reach the factory in Leiden where the vaccines were stored.

They would then “enter, secure the hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports.”

James Bond? Nah, Boris Johnson

Back in 2021, the UK had paid for five million AstraZeneca vaccines to be delivered across the Channel — but the European Union wanted to withhold the vaccines for its own future use. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

The result? In March of 2021, Johnson took to top military officials and shared his master plan of invading the Netherlands to seize the vaccines.

Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, deputy chief of the defence staff, assured Johnson that the plan was “certainly feasible.”

READ MORE | That time the Dutch conquered Britain (ja, we’re serious)

However, he also pointed out one tiny (major) problem: it was near-impossible to carry out this mission unnoticed — and invading a fellow NATO ally might be a bit hard to explain.

While he knew the idea was “nuts,” Johnson admits that he didn’t want to say it out loud at the time. After all, he felt like he was fighting for British lives.

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Lyna Meyrer 🇱🇺
Lyna Meyrer 🇱🇺
Fueled by a love for writing, social media, and all things Dutch, Lyna joined the DR family in 2022. Since making the Netherlands her home in 2018, she has collected a BA in English Literature & Society (Hons.) and an RMA in Arts, Literature and Media (Hons.). Even though she grew up just a few hours away from the Netherlands, Lyna remains captivated by the guttural language, quirky culture, and questionable foods that make the Netherlands so wonderfully Dutch.

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