Former MI6 chief Dearlove dabbles in coronavirus conspiracy theory
In the latest anti-China bluster by the British establishment a former head of the Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6) has made the extraordinary claim that the coronavirus is man-made.
Talking to Sky News, Sir Richard Dearlove, who was chief of MI6 between 1999 and 2004, said that he wants a more “open debate” on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic and warned against rejecting as “conspiracy” the idea that the virus might have originated from a laboratory.
Dearlove, who is well-known for his trenchant views on China, is adamant that the coronavirus was “engineered” in a Wuhan lab and then “escaped by accident”.
"I subscribe to the theory… that it's an engineered escapee from the Wuhan Institute (of Virology)", Dearlove said.
"I am not saying anything other than it was the result of an accident and that the virus is the consequence of gain-of-function experiments that were being conducted in Wuhan, which I don't think are particularly sinister", he added.
However, the former MI6 chief offers no evidence for his extraordinary claims and merely relies on speculation and conjecture to advance his anti-China agenda.
It is worth noting that Dearlove’s views on this issue sharply contrast with the official view of both the British and US intelligence communities which continue to believe the coronavirus is not man-made.
Furthermore, the scientific community also believes the coronavcirus occurred naturally.
The consensus amongst scientists is that the virus passed from an animal (possibly a bat) to a human, probably through an intermediary species, possibly a pangolin.
A leading scientist in this field has already poured cold water on the former MI6 chief’s conspiracy theories.
"There is no doubt that this was a natural event", Dr Rachael Tarlinton, an associate professor of veterinary virology at the University of Nottingham, told Sky News.
"The artificial release theories seem to be a form of 'magical thinking' - a simplistic solution to a complex problem where if someone can be blamed then that someone can be removed and the problem go away", Tarlinton added.
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