Lee Anderson, the former deputy chairman of the governing U.K. Conservative Party, has defected to the fledgling Reform U.K. to become the right-wing populist party’s first MP.
The news was announced at a highly-anticipated press conference held by Reform U.K. leader Richard Tice on Monday morning.
“Something significant has changed in recent months. I’ve noticed people’s concerns and anxiety have turned to anger and fury. Because nothing works. Britain is broken, and we all know who broke it.
“There is absolute fury that the Tories have imposed on us without any democratic consent whatsoever, mass immigration that we can see from the data is making us poorer. No question whatsoever,” said Tice.
“People are also appalled at what is going on in our towns and cities, week in week out, with these anti-Semitic, hate-filled, pro-Hamas marches leading to great fear for our Jewish communities.
“People are horrified at this gender ideology is infecting our schools, poisoning the minds of our children. Parents, and grandparents, in their millions, are shocked by this,” he added.
Tice claimed “the Westminster establishment has never been as out of touch with the tens of millions across the country” and called for Reform U.K. to “replace the Tories as the main alternative to Starmergeddon.”
Lee Anderson was then introduced to the stage as the party’s first-ever MP.
“I want my country back,” he said. “Over the last year or so, I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching over my political journey. I don’t expect much in politics other than to speak my mind and speak on behalf of my constituents.
“It’s not controversial to be concerned about illegal immigration, legal migration, or worried about the Metropolitan Police and the hate marches, the street crime. It’s not controversial to fight back in the culture war, a culture war that is sweeping our nation,” he added.
“I’m proud of our great country and the gifts it has given to the world over the years.
“We have always punched above our weight on the international stage, but now like millions of people, I feel we are slowly giving away our country. We are allowing people into our country who will never integrate and adopt our values.
“Reform U.K. has offered me the chance to speak out in Parliament on behalf of millions of people up and down across the country who feel they are not being listened to,” he concluded.
Anderson, who represents the Red Wall constituency of Ashfield — a term used to describe previous Labour strongholds won by the Conservatives in the Boris Johnson-led landslide of 2019 — had the Tory whip removed last month after he claimed that London Mayor Sadiq Khan had given the capital away to Islamic extremists.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak personally signed off on Anderson’s suspension from the party, agreeing with accusations from the Labour Party that his remarks were “Islamophobic.”
However, the decision caused yet another rift in the Conservative parliamentary party with many backbench lawmakers supporting Anderson and calling for him to be reinstated.
With the Conservatives falling to a dangerously low 18 percent in a national poll over the weekend, just five percentage points ahead of Reform U.K., endorsed by conservative broadcaster Nigel Farage, Anderson becomes the first Conservative MP to jump ship ahead of the election that must take place no later than January next year.
Several sources within the Conservative parliamentary party have confirmed to Remix News that the election could be as soon as May.
The move is expected to heap further pressure on sinking Sunak and reignite calls by Conservative backbenchers concerned about the doomsday polling results for his resignation.
