Welcome to the 'Real World' of Lee Anderson.

 

Cloth Capped Tory - Lee Anderson

The right-wing populist politician, Lee Anderson, has built his lucrative political career on courting controversy and fostering social division to promote his own self-image. The pro-death penalty former miner, who has been the Conservative MP for Ashfield since 2019, was once a Labour councillor. He was suspended by his local branch of the Labour Party in 2018 after he received a community protection warning from the council for using boulders to stop members of the Traveller community, setting up a camp site in the area. There were also calls for him to be sacked when he called for nuisance tenants to be evicted into tents and forced to work in the fields picking vegetables. The Labour Party compared his idea to "forced labour camps."

In 2023, this wind-up merchant, told asylum seekers that if they didn't like being housed on the barge the 'Bibby Stockholm', they "should fuck off back to France." He also accused people of misusing food banks because they couldn't cook and claimed you could knock up a meal for 30 pence.

In a debate on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, in June 2021, Anderson accused the Traveller community in Ashfield of 'thievery' and said:

 "the Gypsy encampments that we are talking about in places such as Ashfield are not the traditional, old-fashioned Gypsies sat there playing the mandolin, flogging lucky heather and telling fortunes. The Travellers I am talking about are more likely to be seen leaving your garden shed at 3 o'clock in the morning, probably with your lawnmower and half of your tools..."

During the Euro 2020 tournament, Anderson announced that he wouldn't be watching any England national football team matches because the players had taken the decision to bend the knee as a gesture against racism and in support of the campaign 'Black Lives Matter(BLM). Anderson claimed that BLM was a "political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life."

Although some Conservatives like the former MP Matthew Parris, have argued that one of the jobs of a parliamentarian is to curtail the instincts of the mob, Anderson plays up to the mob, and its paid off. The oaf now presents a show on GB News entitled 'Lee Anderson's Real World', for which he gets paid an annual salary of £100,000. It was on his show that Anderson claimed that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was controlled by 'Islamists' but he didn't provide any evidence to substantiate his ludicrous allegation that "Islamists" had "got control" of Mr Khan and London, he merely referred to the anti-genocidal protests that have been taking place in London in support of the Palestinians. Although Anderson denied being a racist and denied being Islamophobic, he said he wouldn't apologise to Sadiq Khan or retract his comments.

The former Conservative Party deputy chairman, told ITV news that he would choose his "clumsy" words "slightly differently" if he could turn the clock back, but that he "will not back down" on the comments that he made. Anderson also denied that he'd targeted Sadiq Khan because he was a Muslim. Sadiq Khan said Anderson's comments "pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred."

Although the Conservative Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has denied that Anderson is racist he's withdrawn the whip from Lee Anderson and said his comments were "wrong, unacceptable and ill-judged." Anderson said that since making his comments on Sadiq Khan, his inbox had been full with people telling him that he'd been right to say what he said. He remarked on social media:

"I went into the pubs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Ashfield. The first pub I went into they all stood up and applauded me. That tells you all you need to know about the people of Ashfield." In fairness to the people of Ashfield, some do regard Anderson has "a bit of a prat" and a "Wally" who'd do better to keep his mouth shut.

During the 2019 election campaign, Anderson was one of three Conservative Party candidates who were investigated by the party over claims of antisemitism. It was alleged that Anderson was an active member of a Facebook group that supported the racist Islamophobe Tommy Robinson and which also promoted conspiracy theories about the Hungarian Jewish financier George Soros. Although the results of the investigation weren't made public, Anderson apologised for being a member of the group and agreed to attended online training sessions by the Antisemitism Policy Trust charity to improve his understanding of antisemitism.