‘I’d rather sit with my Tory mates... but it’s up to Rishi’
Lee Anderson refuses to rule out move to Reform in interview on Mail talk show
LEE Anderson left the door open for a return to the Tory fold last night, saying it was ‘up to Rishi’ whether he becomes a Conservative MP again.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s weekly talk show, The Reaction, the former party deputy chairman refused to rule out defecting to Reform UK after losing the whip.
But he suggested he would rather return to the Tory benches because he wants ‘to sit with my mates’ and indicated the ball was in the Prime Minister’s court.
The MP for Ashfield lost the whip at the weekend when he refused to apologise for suggesting that Islamists had ‘got control’ of London mayor Sadiq Khan following weeks of controversial pro-Palestinian protests in the capital. He told the Mail’s Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce that he’s ‘in tune’ with what voters think and is living ‘in the real world’ – unlike Parliament. He also admitted his remarks were ‘clumsy’ but denied they were racist and maintained that he does not regret them.
Asked whether he will join Reform UK after rumoured talks with the party’s leader Richard Tice at the weekend, he said: ‘I’m not prepared to discuss my political journey... I’m not going to discuss what’s going on in private.
‘I’m not denying anything, I’m not admitting anything. I know you want to hear it. I know you have to ask me that question, but that’s the furthest I’m going to go on that subject.’
But pressed on a potential return to the Tory party, he indicated he wanted to, saying: ‘At the end of the day the decision’s up to Rishi.’
Asked by Pierce if his departure was a ‘terrible loss’ to the party, he added: ‘Yes I think so, but that’s out of my hands now.
‘The Conservative Party gave me a home when I was politically homeless. They welcomed me on board, looked after me and protected me and I owe them a lot for that.
‘I’ve been in the chamber today at Prime Minister’s Questions and when I walked in I went to sit with my mates and they just happened to be sitting on the left-hand side as I walked in and they’re Conservatives, they’re my friends.’
Defection rumours have intensified in recent days following claims that Mr Anderson and Mr Tice held ‘one-to- one’ talks over the weekend at a Holiday Inn hotel off the M1 motorway. But senior Tories have suggested he would have to apologise for his comments first to stand any chance of having the Tory whip restored, which he has repeatedly refused to do.
‘I don’t regret what I’ve said,’ he told the YouTube show. ‘I could have been a bit smarter because people have used it to attack me. They’re suggesting that I’m racist and I’m not. The point I was trying to make, if I’m honest, is that Sadiq Khan is not in control of the streets of London.
‘We see it week in, week out on the streets, on Parliament Square, on Whitehall, where mobs can just turn up... I’m saying that Khan and the police haven’t got control of the streets of London. It’s the mob outside that’s got control.’
He accused Mr Khan of failing to call out some pro-Palestine demonstrators, including those who beamed the ‘ From the river to the sea’ slogan – associated with anti- Semitism – on to Big Ben last week.
Mr Anderson added: ‘I’m not controversial. It’s Parliament that’s controversial. It’s this place that’s being controversial, not me.
‘I’m in tune, I think, with the constituents in Ashfield. My inbox tells me that, my neighbours tell me that, the people in the pub tell me that, the people in shopping centres tell me that.’