Chris Lockwood, Europe editor for The Economist, dived head first into the nutty world of anti-Boris conspiracies last night, when – in a now-deleted tweet – he wrote in response to Boris’s post-hospital video:

“This is not someone who was at death’s door a few days ago. Something incredibly fishy about the whole business.”

Not a totally normal response to a man thanking NHS doctors from pulling him back from the brink…

Guido has already highlighted left-wing cranks wishing ill on Boris after his hospital admission. Lockwood however is a friend of David Cameron and only returned to The Economist in 2015 after a two-year stint in No. 10’s policy unit writing the Tories’ 2015 manifesto. 10 hours after his tweet he’s apologised:

I have deleted a tweet that cast doubt on whether Boris Johnson had been as seriously ill as reported. I withdraw my comment and apologise for the offence it has caused.

— Chris Lockwood (@chrislockwd) April 13, 2020

Guido struggles to take Chris’s apology seriously given his latest liked Tweet is this one by the king of the cranks, A.C. Grayling…

Clear sign of Boris Derangement Syndrome (BDS) which still afflicts many Europhiles…