Lee Anderson defects to Reform UK to give Richard Tice's anti-immigration party its first MP

Lee Anderson has defected to Reform UK, giving the anti-immigration party its first MP.

The firebrand MP for Ashfield had been the Conservative Party's deputy chairman, however he lost the Tory whip after claiming the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was controlled by Islamists last month. Anderson refused to apologise for his comments and since then there has been huge speculation he might defect to Reform UK.

Today (11 March), at a press conference in London, Reform UK leader Richard Tice announced Anderson had defected to his party. He said: "We need a champion of the Red Wall, someone who completely understands it, someone to tell it as it is, no nonsense, no waffle - common sense."

Anderson said: "I want my country back - over the last year or so I've had to do a lot of soul searching on my political journey. I don't expect much in politics except to speak my mind, speak on behalf on my friends, family and constituents.

"I might not know a lot of these long words that people use in Parliament, but I know a few short ones. Unfortunately this has lead me to be labelled as controversial ... opinions that are shared by millions of people up and down the country."

Anderson said that it's not controversial to be concerned about "immigration ... the Met Police ... and to fight back against a culture war". He added: "I feel we are slowly giving our country away, we are giving away our way of life, we are allowing people to erase our history."

Speaking about joining Reform UK, he said "I'm prepared to gamble on myself", and explained that his parents said they could not vote for him unless he changed party. He added: "I cannot be a part of an organisation which stifles free speech, and many of my colleagues in that place, in the Conservative Party, do back me on this privately."

Prior to his defection, NationalWorld reported that Anderson had been in repeated conversation with Reform UK about switching parties.

Anderson was stripped of the Tory whip after refusing to apologise for claiming that “Islamists” had “got control” of Khan. The London Mayor described the comments as Islamophobic and racist.

The switch to Reform UK, which comes after weeks of speculation about a possible defection by Anderson, would give the party its first MP. There would not need to be a by-election, however Anderson will be under pressure as he was voted in as a Conservative. He had previously been a Labour councillor.

Anderson has previously criticised Reform UK and described its leader Tice as a “pound shop Nigel Farage”. Speaking earlier this year to GB News, which pays him a £100,000 salary, on top of his £86,584 MP pay, to present a show on its network, Anderson said: “This is not a proper political party, by the way, this is a company…

“I think he’s a pound shop Nigel Farage and every time he opens his mouth recently on whichever media platform, he is coming across as Reform’s answer to Diane Abbott. He’s just saying ridiculous things.”

Anderson was deputy chairman of the Tory party until he resigned in January to rebel against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s legislation to revive his stalled plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The now-independent MP has since 2019 represented Ashfield, one of the previously Labour seats in the so-called red wall where voters switched to the Tories after Brexit to give Boris Johnson his landslide victory.

Some Tories see Reform UK as a challenger at the general election expected this year, with signs of growing support for the party. Reform UK finished in third place in two recent by-elections, although its candidate in the Rochdale contest – former Labour MP Simon Danczuk – had a poor showing.

Tice has played up the danger posed to the ruling party by Reform UK candidates and has ruled out entering any electoral pact with the Conservatives. He has insisted he would stand candidates in every constituency, unlike in 2019 when his party – then the Brexit Party – stood down candidates to help Boris Johnson.

Arch Brexiteer Farage is the honorary president of Reform UK, which is seeking to attract disillusioned Conservative voters mainly over the issue of immigration.

Labour's Pat McFadden said Anderson’s defection suggests the Prime Minister is “too weak to lead a party too extreme to be led”. “While the Conservatives are falling apart, Labour is focused on turning the page on 14 years of Tory failure,” he said.

“What does it say about Rishi Sunak’s judgment that he promoted Lee Anderson in the first place? The truth is that the Prime Minister is too weak to lead a party too extreme to be led, and if the Tories got another five years it would all just get worse.”

A Tory spokesperson said: “Lee himself said he fully accepted that the Chief Whip had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances. We regret he’s made this decision.

“Voting for Reform can’t deliver anything apart from a Keir Starmer-led Labour government that would take us back to square one – which means higher taxes, higher energy costs, no action on Channel crossings, and uncontrolled immigration.”

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.