Reform UK has its first MP today after Lee Anderson dramatically announced he is joining the Nigel Farage-backed outfit.
The former Tory deputy chair was unveiled as the party’s new ‘champion’ by jubilant leader Richard Tice at a press conference this morning.
Swiping at his former colleagues, Mr Anderson said he ‘wants our country back’ and had to be able to ‘speak my mind’. He said there had been a ‘lot of soul searching in my political journey’ but his parents and his staff had all told him to switch to Reform.
The news is a major blow to Rishi Sunak, and will fuel Conservative panic about the threat of an implosion at the election.
Reform UK has been creeping up in the polls despite the PM’s desperate attempts to relaunch and close the huge gap with Labour.
A bullish Mr Tice said he would be ‘surprised’ if more MPs did not switch to Reform before the election – with claims at least nine are considering their future.
Mr Anderson had been feted by Mr Sunak for his plain-speaking politics, and regarded as key to efforts to shore up the ‘Red Wall’.
But he was ejected from the Tories last month after refusing to say sorry for claiming ‘Islamists’ had ‘got control’ of London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr Anderson reiterated today: ‘I will not apologise.’
He said: ‘When I find myself suspended for speaking my mind – and, by the way, speaking up on behalf of millions of people up and down the country who agree with me – that for me is unpalatable. It’s a shocker, if I’m honest.
‘I cannot be a part of an organisation which stifles free speech, and many of my colleagues in that place, in the Conservative Party, do back me on this privately.’
Mr Anderson added: ‘People will say that I’ve took a gamble. And I’m prepared to gamble on myself as I know from my mailbag how many people in this country support Reform UK and what they have to say. And, like millions of people up and down the country, all I want is my country back.’
Reform UK has its first MP today after Lee Anderson dramatically announced he is joining the Nigel Farage-backed outfit
Mr Anderson said he would not be triggering a by-election – although Conservatives quickly pointed out that he previously signed a motion saying contests should be automatic when MPs switched party.
The MP said he was sad to leave his former colleagues, but predicted that in a year’s time they would be ‘sitting on the same benches as me’.
He accused the Tories of not standing up for ‘free speech’.
Asked for his message to Tory MPs, he said his priorities were ‘country, constituency and then party’.
Mr Anderson said his ‘conscience is clear’ when asked whether his defection to Reform UK would help Labour at the general election.
‘Somebody has to make a stand,’ he told a press conference.
‘I have to live with my conscience. My conscience is clear.’
Pressed on Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib’s desire to ‘obliterate’ the Conservatives, Mr Anderson said: ‘It’s not an objective which is at the top of my agenda.
‘My vision for this party is to win seats like Ashfield… places that I think have been let down by my old party.’
He added: ‘I have to be with a party that puts this country first, rather than their mates at the tea parties and clinking their champagne glasses.’
Mr Anderson insisted ‘no money has been offered at all’ to entice him to join Reform.
He also said: ‘It’s a sad day that I’m leaving my colleagues. But if I’m honest, this time next year they’ll be sat on the same benches as me.’
Mr Tice told the press conference in central London that ‘Britain is broken and we all know who broke it’.
Pointing to the Tory and Reform standings in the polls, he added: ‘We’re going up and they are going down.’
‘We need a champion, of course, of the Red Wall, someone who completely understands it, who is trusted by voters to tell it as it is, no nonsense, no waffle, clear, basic, common sense,’ Mr Tice said.
‘And I’m delighted to announce that I have found that champion of the Red Wall for reform UK.
‘He’s also coincidentally going to be Reform UK’s first Member of Parliament’s in the House of Commons.
‘He is of course a person of great integrity, no nonsense, and is the Member of Parliament in the county of Nottinghamshire for Ashfield.’
Tories slammed Mr Anderson for joining Reform.
One Ukip veteran warned of a repeat of the tensions that erupted when Clacton MP Douglas Carswell defected from the Conservatives in 2014.
‘Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other,’ the insider told .
‘Lee’s staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform’s staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.’
Mr Tice did not rule out opening the door to Mr Anderson after his suspension, and the pair were said to have held several meetings.
But Mr Anderson has previously been less than complimentary about his possible new leader, branding him a ‘pound shop Farage’ and ‘Reform’s answer to Nigel Farage’.
He has derided Reform as ‘not a proper political party’, saying it is a ‘company’.
Mr Anderson was deputy chairman of the Tory party until he resigned in January to rebel against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s legislation to revive his stalled plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The now-independent MP has since 2019 represented Ashfield, one of the previously Labour seats in the so-called Red Wall where voters switched to the Tories after Brexit to give Boris Johnson his landslide victory.
Some Tories see Reform UK as a challenger at the general election expected this year, with signs of growing support for the party.
Reform UK finished in third place in two recent by-elections, although its candidate in the Rochdale contest – former Labour MP Simon Danczuk – had a poor showing.
Mr Tice has played up the danger posed to the ruling party by Reform UK candidates and has ruled out entering any electoral pact with the Conservatives.
He has insisted he would stand candidates in every constituency, unlike in 2019 when his party – then the Brexit Party – stood down candidates to help Mr Johnson.
Arch Brexiteer Mr Farage is the honorary president of Reform UK, which is seeking to attract disillusioned 2019 Conservative voters over the issue of immigration.
Mr Farage, who founded the Brexit Party – later renamed Reform UK – in 2018, has downplayed rumours of a possible switch to the Tories.
Mr Anderson is a former coal miner, ex-Labour councillor and a committed Brexiteer.
The 55-year-old describes himself as ‘born and bred’ in Ashfield, the Nottinghamshire constituency he now represents in the House of Commons.
After leaving school, he followed his coalmining father into the pits, where he worked for 10 years.
According to a biography on his website, Mr Anderson then volunteered at a local Citizens Advice bureau, worked in hostels for homeless care leavers, and took a job in a local MP’s office.
He also became a local Labour councillor after being a lifetime party member.
A 2018 local newspaper report detailed how Mr Anderson was subject to an investigation by his fellow Labour councillors.
It came after he was issued with a community protection warning after placing boulders to deter travellers from setting up camp at a local site.
Mr Anderson soon defected to the Tories and was later elected a Conservative councillor.
Not long after, he was elected to Parliament as MP for Ashfield in 2019 as part of Boris Johnson’s 80-seat Tory majority.
Reform UK has been creeping up in the polls as the Tories flag, despite repeated attempts by Rishi Sunak to relaunch
Richard Tice has promised developments amid frenzied speculation that the Lee Anderson could join – becoming its first MP