Lee Anderson has announced he is defecting from the Conservative party, from which he is currently suspended, to Reform U.K. The Telegraph has the story.
The former Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party was suspended from the Tories over his refusal to apologise for his claims that Islamists had “got control” of Sadiq Khan and of London.
He said: “country, constituency and then party” when asked what his message would be to Tory MPs and colleagues who may feel their electoral chances could be damaged by his actions.
The defection, which will be a blow to Rishi Sunak, follows weeks of speculation about the Ashfield MP’s next moves.
Mr. Anderson sparked a furious backlash after he claimed last month that the capital had been “taken over” amid the weekly pro-Palestinian protests over the war in Gaza.
In an interview with GB News, Mr Anderson said: “I don’t actually believe that these Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is that they’ve got control of Khan, they’ve got control of London.
“He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates… If you let Labour in through the back door, expect more of this, expect our cities to be taken over by these lunatics.”
Mr. Anderson was stripped of the Tory whip after he refused to apologise for the remarks, opting instead to double down on his comments although admitting his choice of words was “clumsy”.
Mr. Anderson met with Richard Tice, the leader of Reform U.K., the day after he was suspended from the Tory party, which fuelled speculation about a possible defection.
In the days that followed, Downing Street faced growing calls from fellow Tory MPs for Mr Anderson to be readmitted to the Conservative Party.
As news of Mr Anderson’s defection to Reform spread throughout Westminster on Monday morning, one senior Tory backbencher captured the mood by saying that “disbelief is the feeling amongst colleagues.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The New Conservative group, led by Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, have written a piece for the Telegraph saying the Conservative Government must urgently change course to avoid any more defections and to recover some of its 2019 voters.
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