His comments come as a group of scientists have written a letter accusing the WHO of failing to properly investigate whether Covid was leaked from a Wuhan lab and demanding a further investigation, reports Express.co.uk.

A report by the WHO concluded there were no links between the virus and the suspected lab in Wuhan. But WHO investigators on the trip to Wuhan detailed how they were escorted at all times by officials and barred from accessing specific sites in what many believe was an attempted cover up from the Chinese Government, reports the news website.

Lord Ridley told talkRadio as quoted b Express.co.uk: “I think the World Health Organisation's investigation in January and February was so farcical that it has backfired."

"Most people quite sensibly have looked at that and said 'hang on you have got no evidence for the claims you are making and no evidence against the lab leak as a result of this investigation'," he said.

“So this letter is signed by some very important people," he said.

He went on to say: “People like Ralph Baric, who has been collaborating with the Wuhan Institute of Virology for many years and really invented this whole field of reverse genetics where you manipulate bat viruses to see whether or not they can infect different kinds of cells in the lab."