Upstaged by a Union Flag at chaotic press conference ...

LEE Anderson was upstaged by a Union Flag during his chaotic press conference to announce that he had joined Reform.

The hapless MP grimaced at cameras as he took to the stage with party leader Richard Tice yesterday, only to be heckled: “Look happy”.

The Ashfield MP – who lost the Tory whip for Islamophobic comments about London mayor Sadiq Khan –snapped back: “Who said that? He’s not getting an interview.”

Columnist Paul Waugh quipped: “Lee Anderson’s unveiling as Reform MP being somewhat hampered by a basic presentational issue: he’s giving a speech behind a flag, not a great angle for the live TV cameras.”

Elsewhere, Anderson snapped at The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole, accusing the journalist of laughing at him.

And he aimed a dig at a political correspondent for

“We are allowing people to erase our history, we are giving up our streets to a minority of people who literally hate our way of life,” he said. We are allowing people into our country that will never integrate and adopt our British values.”

He insisted he would not apologise for the comments he made about Khan.

When pressed by BBC journalist Chris Mason over why he wouldn’t subject himself to a by-election, Anderson said that it would be “reckless” to suggest a by-election when there could be a General Election in May.

He then added that it would “cost a fortune”.

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 i newspaper, calling her “Mrs Journalist”.

Poppy Wood tweeted: “Enjoyed Lee Anderson calling me ‘Mrs Journalist’ when I asked if he still thinks poverty in Britain is ‘nonsense’. He denied he said this, I quoted his own words back to him and he said:‘Well Mrs Journalist go and find me that family [in extreme poverty] – I’ll give you a year’.”

It’s Anderson’s third political party in six years, having previously been a member of Labour and the Conservatives.

Anderson also told reporters that his previous denials of joining Reform were aimed at “throwing you lot off the scent”.