Anderson recently defected to the Reform UK Party. He'd been the Conservative MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, since 2019 but was stripped of the Tory whip when he claimed that London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan, was under the control of "Islamists." He produced no evidence to substantiate his ludicrous allegations but merely referred to the anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian rallies that have taken place in the capital. Anderson denied being a racist Islamophobe but refused to apologise or retract his comments which he admitted were 'clumsy'. Referring to Sadiq Khan, he told GB News viewers, "He's actually given our capital city away to his mates." Sadiq Khan accused Anderson of "pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred." In January 2024, he resigned as a deputy chairman of the Conservative party in order to rebel against Rishi Sunak's Rwanda bill, claiming it didn't go far enough.
I wonder how many people in the pubs and clubs of Ashfield, were aware that this 'Man of the people" or Tory in clogs, was a member of a posh private member’s club founded in 1832 by Tory peers including the Duke of Wellington. Anderson, a former Labour councillor and Notts miner, also presents a TV show on GB News bizarrely called 'Lee Anderson's Real World' for which he's paid £100,000 a year for hosting the show.
In 2022, Anderson defended his £220,000 claim for his expenses as an MP after saying Brits can't budget. The expenses he claimed in 2020/21 were in addition to his £84,144 salary as an MP and were nearly £16,000 higher than the average costs for an MP. In 2022, Anderson claimed that food banks were being used by people who can't budget or cook and that you could knock up a meal for 30 pence.
Anderson has ruled out the possibility that he would trigger a by-election citing the impending general election as a reason for doing so. As the first MP for Reform UK, Anderson, a right-wing populist, knows that the Tories are likely to lose the next general election and he obviously thinks he's more chance of retaining his seat if he stands for the Reform UK Party. Last month, Simon Danczuk, the former Labour MP for Rochdale, received a 6% share of the vote (1,968 votes) when he stood as the candidate for Reform UK in Rochdale. George Galloway of the Workers Party of Britain, received a 40% share of the vote (12,335 votes) and was elected.
Since 1955, when the Ashfield seat was created, the constituency has been predominantly Labour controlled. It went Conservative in 1977 and 2019, with the election of Lee Anderson. Geoff Hoon represented Ashfield as the Labour MP from 1992 until 2010, when he was succeeded by Gloria De Piero who now works for GB News. The voters of Ashfield should take heed of the words of Doctor Samuel Johnson, who famously said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." If they've any sense they'll give this uncouth bigoted lout the boot and put him on the park benches where he belongs.
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