Who is Lee Anderson? As former Tory MP accused of ‘stoking division’ joins Reform UK

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Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK social gathering after he was suspended by the Conservatives over racist remarks directed at London mayor Sadiq Khan.

He introduced his swap to the right-wing populist social gathering at a press convention on Monday alongside social gathering chief Richard Tice in London.

Mr Anderson stated: “I will start by saying 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.”

He was not too long ago suspended from the Tory social gathering after feedback he made about Mr Khan which have been described by Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer as an “appalling racist and Islamophobic outburst”.

In a earlier outburst Mr Anderson stated that asylum-seekers who don’t want to be housed within the authorities’s Bibby Stockholm barge ought to “f*** off back to France”, main Mr Khan to accuse him of “stoking division and hate”.

The defection of the Ashfield MP will heap but additional strain on Rishi Sunak because the populist social gathering may probably break up the right-wing vote on the subsequent election.

Who is Lee Anderson?

Born in 1967, the 56-year-old had fairly a political journey even earlier than he entered politics.

Having left John Davies Primary School in Huthwaite and Ashfield School in Kirkby with a number of O-levels, he studied transport administration at Nottingham Technical College. After faculty, he labored a quantity of native jobs, together with labourer in a concrete manufacturing facility, earlier than following his father into the Nottinghamshire coal mines the place he labored for 10 years.

With some of his family members stated to have taken half within the 1984 miners’ strike, Mr Anderson additionally joined industrial motion when John Major’s authorities was closing mines within the early Nineteen Nineties. But now he considers it “a pointless gesture”, urging hanging staff to “put the family first, not the union” in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Anderson stated he left the pits – at one level working seven 12-hour shifts per week – in 1997 to dedicate his time to his two sons, who he raised as a single guardian for 17 years. During that point he was pressured to promote his automobile to make ends meet.

The father-of-two then started volunteering on the Citizens Advice Bureau, the place he labored for 10 years, additionally working in hostels for homeless care leavers, earlier than holding a job as workplace supervisor for Gloria De Piero, the former Labour MP for Ashfield.

After serving as a Labour councillor within the constituency from 2015 for 3 years, he defected to the Conservatives in what he claimed was a response to the “hard-left” takeover of the social gathering below Jeremy Corbyn.

A month previous to his defection, he was suspended by the native Labour social gathering after being handed a group safety warning by the council for putting boulders to discourage travellers from establishing camp at a website within the space, Mansfield and Ashfield Chad reported.

His second spouse, Sinead is additionally a Conservative councillor in Mansfield, who has represented Eaking ward since 2019.

Election as MP after controversy on marketing campaign path

Mr Anderson was elected to characterize Ashfield in July 2019 with a majority of 5,733. He grew to become the constituency’s first Tory MP in 22 years after a marketing campaign which noticed him submit a video claiming that “nuisance tenants” ought to be pressured to stay in tents and choose potatoes.

That episode – which noticed him accused of “entrenching division” – was not the one controversy of his marketing campaign.

Minutes earlier than bringing a journalist to the door of one potential constituent, Mr Anderson appeared to overlook he was sporting a microphone as he advised them: “Make out you know who I am … you know I’m the candidate, but not a friend, alright?”

Earning the nickname ‘30p Lee’

Mr Anderson’s fondness for contentious feedback solely grew as soon as coming into parliament, the place he has turn into recognized to critics as “30p Lee” after claiming “there’s not this massive use for food banks in this country”, insisting that “generation after generation … can’t cook a meal from scratch [and] cannot budget”.

To illustrate his level, he determined in January to tweet an image of a member of his employees with particulars of her earnings and outgoings, claiming she was an instance of somebody incomes lower than £30,000 who didn’t want to make use of a meals financial institution.

The transfer was closely criticised, and Mr Anderson was accused of “a form of bullying” by Labour MP Dawn Butler, who stated she had reported him to the Commons authorities.

During the Euro 2020 competitors, Mr Anderson stated he would boycott watching England’s video games, over the gamers’ choice to take the knee in an anti-racism gesture.

What does Mr Anderson say about his method?

Mr Anderson has defended his method to such points, telling The Spectator: “I can say it because I was a single parent for 17 years with two boys. I struggled … so I’ll take no lectures from anybody about being hard up and struggling for survival.”

“Maybe some of my colleagues think I’m a little bit too divisive,” he stated. “But I’m of the mind that half the population will hate you, whatever colour you wear.”

Urging the federal government “to start promoting personal responsibility as well as aspiration”, he advised The Telegraph in January {that a} “can do” spirit is “the mentality of the Red Wall”.

“It is your family, you provide for them. Make sure that you live in a safe, decent country with good education, a good health-care system and a good police force,” he stated.

Promotion to Tory deputy chair

The outspoken Ashfield MP has turn into well-loved by the Conservative Party’s grassroots, rising in a ConservativeHouse survey of Tory members as their favorite backbench MP of 2022.

In his bid to unite the fracturing social gathering he inherited from Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak appointed Mr Anderson as Tory deputy chair in February this 12 months.

That transfer prompted some concern amongst colleagues, because it got here only a week after leaked messages from a Tory MP WhatsApp group reportedly noticed Mr Anderson liken the federal government to “the band on the Titanic” on the problem of small boat crossings, “playing the same tune and ignoring the obvious”.

Just days after his appointment, No 10 was pressured to remind journalists and the general public that Mr Anderson, whereas deputy chairman, was not really a member of the federal government after he backed the return of the loss of life penalty in an interview with The Spectator.

Despite his promotion throughout the Tory ranks, Mr Anderson continued in a equally combative vein even this week as he advised Mr Farage there was “no doubt about it” that Mr Sunak’s authorities has “failed” in successfully “stopping the boats” – one of the PM’s 5 key pledges.

Mr Anderson has now turn into the most recent Tory MP to be granted his personal present on GB News, the place he names a “wokey of the week” and encompasses a “token lefty”.

So far he has spoon-fed a fellow MP baked beans and sought to persuade fellow presenter Michelle Dewsbury to eat cat meals.

Resignation and defection to Reform

Mr Anderson resigned as deputy Tory chairman in January after an ongoing row over Rishi Sunak’s plan to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Just a month later he was suspended from the Conservative Party after he claimed “Islamists” had “got control” of Mr Khan and London.

In an look on GB News, Mr Anderson stated: “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London… He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.”

The feedback brought about outrage and he refused to apologise, saying that it might be “a sign of weakness”.

Despite being broadly condemned he did discover help from Reform chief Mr Tice who stated in an announcement: “Lee Anderson may have been clumsy in his precise choice of words, but his sentiments are supported by millions of British citizens, including myself.

“I do not and will not give a running commentary on any discussions I have with any MPs, but those MPs have my number.”

Despite Mr Anderson beforehand saying Mr Tice was a “pound shop Nigel Farage” and stated Reform was “not a proper political party”, he joined them in March.