1,000 join Reform the day after Anderson’s defection
MORE THAN 1,000 people have joined Reform UK after ex-Tory vice-chairman Lee Anderson’s dramatic defection.
The former Brexit Party – which is polling as high as 14 per cent – has seen a swell in support in recent months as voters lose faith in both the Tories and Labour.
Mr Anderson’s defection was seen as a warning shot to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when it came to retaining voters in the Midlands and the North.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice told GB News yesterday: ‘A record number of over 1,000 new members joining Reform in one day is proof just how popular Lee Anderson is with many Red Wall voters. He will be such a powerful Red Wall champion for us.’
It came as Mr Anderson made a lowkey return to Parliament yesterday after defecting from the Tories on Monday. The Ashfield MP crossed the floor during a Budget debate yesterday and sat with George Galloway, the recently elected MP for Rochdale.
But Mr Anderson did not speak in the debate and only remained in the Commons chamber for a few minutes before leaving. Earlier, he had taken
part in a cross-party session for the Home Affairs select committee.
Mr Anderson had the Conservative whip suspended last month after suggesting Islamists had ‘got control’ of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
He subsequently admitted he had been in talks with Reform UK ‘for a while’ and confirmed the switch on Monday. There will be no by-election in Ashfield, the MP confirmed, meaning he will remain as the constituency’s representative until the general election later this year.
He said he was ‘prepared to gamble’ on himself retaining the seat and said his opinions were ‘shared by millions of people up and down the country’.
Reform UK sources have suggested several more disillusioned Tories could follow Mr Anderson and defect in the next few months. Privately, Tory MPs have claimed that other Conservatives who have lost the whip could cross.
The latest YouGov polling has Reform UK on 13 per cent of the vote – just seven points behind the Tories.
A Reform UK spokesman said earlier this week: ‘There is a choice, the same old, technocratic failures of Westminster’s monoparty. They see what happened today, and think, yes, here is something worth supporting.’