Lee Anderson Quotes

[After another Conservative MP predicted losses at the May local elections and the next general election] It's like the band on the Titanic. Playing the same tune and ignoring the obvious.

This week I’ve been called lard a--- pot belly MP. I've been called a fat b------ all over Twitter. Most of them are hidden profiles, keyboard cowards.
I used to watch Popeye as a kid. Every time he had his tin of spinach, he got stronger and that's what it is like for me every time I got one of these horrible comments. My haters are my motivators.

[On a clash with anti-Brexit protester, Steve Bray.] He had a go at my weight. This is a man who was quite clearly out of condition. I'm trying to do something about it, but here is a challenge [...] He is a nuisance. And I've got a challenge for him: Meet me in the boxing ring. Let's do three rounds. And if I win, he never protests out there again. And if he wins, I'll go and protest with him.

[On the possibility comedian Eddie Izzard, who identifies as transgender, might be elected to parliament.] Is that what's coming to parliament? I think it opens a whole new debate, mate. I’m going to be honest now, controversial as always, if he does get elected and I’m still here, I shouldn't be following him into the toilets.

We've got the gutter press lurking around every corner trying to cause problems. [...] We had Brexit, we had Boris, we had Jeremy Corbyn, that was three years ago, now it is a different ball game under Theresa May.

I've got a big bee in my bonnet about food poverty. I'm a big believer that we do need food banks, but not to the degree we've got them. Every do gooder is starting these little projects to make themselves feel good.

[Responding to criticism following his comments about food banks] The last cooking session we did, which we publicised - where we had four MPs here - we made I think 180 meals for fifty quid, which is 30p each.
So there's the real proof, so if people want to come here and have a go and we can teach them then surely they will stand back and say we can cook on a budget and thank you for doing it.

[Asked by a Labour MP if food banks should be necessary in Britain.] I think you’ll see first-hand that there's not this massive use for food banks in this country.
We’ve got generation after generation that cannot cook properly, they can't cook a meal from scratch, they cannot budget, the challenge is there. Come to Ashfield, come to a real food bank that's making a real difference to people’s lives.

What we do at the food bank, we show them how to cook cheap and nutritious meals on a budget [...] We can make a meal for about 30 pence a day, and this is cooking from scratch.

There should be no place in politics for MPs to make financial gain from private companies in return for lobbying.
We are paid handsomely for the job we do and if you need an extra £100,000 a year on top then you should really be looking for another job.

I would be in favour of [using] the Falkland Islands. The only way we will put these people off is by giving them the message that if you come here you are going to be sent 8,000 miles away.

For the first time in my life I will not be watching my beloved England team whilst they are supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life.

The Tory party's picked me for a reason: I'm an ex-miner in a mining town [...] I campaigned to Leave. They know my history. It's easier for somebody to vote for me if they see me as one of them. It probably makes it acceptable to vote Tory if it's an ex-pitman – rather than some posh Tory boy.

All throughout my time in the Labour Party, every meeting I went to, I always had my rant [...] They always used to say: "Why don’t you go and join the Tory party?" This went on for years. And then I did.

[M]ake out you know who I am, that you know I'm the candidate but not that you are a friend.