Lee Anderson breaks MPs’ code of conduct by using parliamentary roof to film promo video

Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson has been found to have breached the MPs’ code of conduct by using a House of Commons rooftop to film a promotion video for his £100,000-a-year GB News show.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, on Tuesday said the Ashfield MP broke the rules by filming for a commercial purpose on the parliamentary estate without authorisation.

Using Parliament Square and Whitehall as the backdrop, Mr Anderson asked viewers to get in touch with their problems for a chance to appear on his weekly show. The senior Tory also flouted the code by sending a newsletter advertising his GB News programme from his parliamentary email address, Mr Greenberg said.

On both counts, the Standards Commissioner said, Mr Anderson broke rule eight, which states: “Excepting modest and reasonable personal use, Members must ensure that the use of facilities and services provided to them by Parliament, including an office, is in support of their parliamentary activities, and is in accordance with all relevant rules.”

In a report published on his website, Mr Greenberg wrote that he “took the view that the breaches were inadvertent”. He added: “Mr Anderson has accepted my decision, acknowledged that the breaches occurred, apologised, and given an undertaking that breaches of this kind will not recur.”

Lee Anderson’s Real World first aired in June, making him the latest in a string of Tory MPs to host a GB News programme, joining his colleagues Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies.

A former Labour councillor before joining the Tories, Mr Anderson has been no stranger to controversy since being elected to Westminster in 2019, having called for the return of the death penalty and claiming people on universal credit were not in poverty.