The official Tory line on Anderson is that if what he says upsets you, then you're a snob or out of touch. That's an interesting way to describe a significant number of Conservative voters, plus a prime minister immediately forced to clarify that actually he doesn't agree with Lee about the death penalty.
British politician (born 1967)
Lee Anderson (born 6 January 1967) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire since 2019. Originally elected as a Conservative, he was appointed as a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in February 2023, but resigned from the post in January 2024 in order to vote for an amendment to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The parliamentary whip was suspended in February 2024 after Anderson's comments about Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, leading him to switch his party affiliation to Reform UK the following month. He retained his seat in the July 2024 general election. Since 2023, Anderson has hosted a show on GB News and is reportedly being paid £100,000 per annum by the channel. Prior to his parliamentary career, he was a Labour councillor in Ashfield, but defected to the Conservative Party in 2018.
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30p Lee
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Anderson thinks he understands Britain, and in some ways he does. But what he's missed is our saddest trait: feeling ashamed to ask for help. Hardly anyone is going to a food bank as a jolly, and when there are now more food banks in the UK than branches of McDonald's, it's clear where the demand really is in Britain today.
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I was going to vote no. I went into the no lobby to vote no, because I couldn't see how I could support the bill after backing all the amendments. I got into the no lobby and I spent about two or three minutes with a colleague in there. The Labour lot were giggling and laughing and taking the mick and I couldn't do it: In my heart of hearts, I couldn't vote no.
So I walked out and abstained.
I think he needs to pipe down a little bit because if the unthinkable happens and next year, we do get a Labour government and Richard Tice is on his media platforms saying what a disaster 'Starmergeddon' and what a disaster the Labour Party are, I shall be reminding Mr Tice it was him that helped them get elected.
Now there is — we're not taping this, are we? [laughter] — there is a political party that begins with an R that offered me a lot of money to join them. I say a lot of money, I mean a lot of money. ... And I wouldn't join them, OK, because we've a got by-election in Mid-Beds next week. Reform have got a candidate.
[After recalling his suggestion to Boris Johnson around 2021] But I don't think it's fair on the Falkland Islands to be honest; they don’t want these illegal migrants going down there. There's a better option: we can keep them on British soil, if you like. We've got the Orkneys or some remote Scottish island.
I know it's a bit parky [cold] up there this time of year. But if people are genuinely escaping war or persecution then a nice Scottish island with a few outbuildings would be suitable. This is a beautiful country. Parts of Scotland are a 'go to' destination, the remote islands – I'd like to be able to afford a place up there.
If we can get some accommodation up there, keep these people safe – these people want to be safe, they're fleeing so-called persecution from these war-torn countries. If we can find an island in the Orkneys or up there that's got no one on there to start off with, put some decent accommodation on, then it's job done.