Desmond Swayne

On 2 August 1987, he was commissioned into the Royal Armoured Corps, Territorial Army in the rank of second lieutenant (on probation).[9] He served with the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry.[10] He was promoted to lieutenant on 2 August 1989,[11] and to captain on 1 August 1992.[12] On 1 November 1992, he transferred to the newly formed Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry.[13] He was promoted to major on 14 December 1996 with seniority from 1 January 1996.[14]

In 2003, he was called up and posted to Iraq as part of the Iraq War.[15] He served for six months before returning to the House of Commons.[8]

Swayne argues that the COVID-19 virus is not as serious to the general population as is widely believed. He has been critical of the UK government's response to the pandemic, especially the lockdown response after 24 March 2020. Swayne believes that the government should have taken a softer approach, including keeping shops and public spaces open as had the Swedish government, and that the government's lockdown measures and policies were disproportionate to the threat posed by the virus. He argues against restrictions on the public from a socially libertarian position.

Speaking to parliament in July 2020, Swayne described the Coronavirus law requiring the public to wear face masks in indoor public places as "a monstrous imposition", and said that it would make him less likely to go shopping.[30] In a television interview in December 2020 he called for healthcare and scientific experts to be "put in their place" and said: "We're [the government] paying too much attention to health professionals and scientists on health and science issues."[31]

In a speech in parliament on 28 September 2020, Swayne stated that "the policy of the government has been disproportionate in response to this threat. There may be a virus one day that threatens our very way of life, but this is not it, even if we are behaving as if it were." Furthermore, he argued that the government had been following the advice of small group of scientists without doing their job as politicians and imposing "a sense of proportion" and "not be in thrall" of science.[4][32]

Swayne believes that there has been "censorship" of opposing arguments or criticisms of the lockdown policies. On 15 October 2020 Swayne asked the Leader of the House of Commons if a debate could be held on censorship due to "the sinister disappearance of the link from Google to the Great Barrington declaration".[33][34][35] He has donated money to anti-lockdown demonstration organiser Piers Corbyn who had been fined for his breaching lockdown regulations.[36]

It was reported in January 2021 by Sky News that Swayne had said that Covid-19 death figures were being "manipulated", during an interview in November 2020 with the anti-mask and anti-lockdown movement Save Our Rights. The Office for National Statistics reported that at the time deaths were 14% above the five-year average. Swayne had stated that "...it seems to be a manageable risk, particularly as figures have been manipulated. We're told there is a deathly, deadly pandemic proceeding at the moment. That is difficult to reconcile with ICU's actually operating at typical occupation levels for the time of year and us bouncing round at the typical level of deaths for the time of year.". He urged the group, who have previously advanced false claims about Covid-19 vaccines, to "persist" in its work.[37] When interviewed on the matter he stated that "anyone who wants to talk to me about vaccines can consult my website or indeed my question I put to the Prime Minister yesterday [...] and you will see that you will see that I am the most enthusiastic vax"[38]^:10:18 and said that he "spoke to [Save Our Rights] exclusively about their campaign about lockdown because I share their objective. I'm against lockdown"[38]^:9:41

Swayne's comments were criticised by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), arguing such comments would "cost lives", and Deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner.[37] Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove said that Swayne was "out of order" and should apologise.[39] On the same day, Swayne responded to these comments on talkRADIO and Sky News.[38][40] Angela Rayner urged action be taken against Swayne for endorsing conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and suggesting that the official figures had been manipulated, "a deeply dangerous claim for which there is absolutely no evidence". Swayne said that "we are getting very close to thought crime [...] that the deputy leader of the Labour Party is complaining about what another member of Parliament says and things as if this was some sort of criminal activity."[38]^:10:51

In a 2021 interview with anti-vaccination filmmaker Del Bigtree, Swayne said that Britain had become "a police state" and accused the government of attempting to enact "social control". When questioned about this by Sky News, Swayne stated that he had never heard of Bigtree.[41] In January 2021, Swayne was criticised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews for his 2020 appearance on The Richie Allen Show, which has been accused of anti-Semitism.[42][43]