11 March 2024 , 12:05
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Hypocrite Lee Anderson says he won't call a by-election after switching parties - despite previously backing calls for MPs to do so.
In 2020, the former Tory deputy chairman, who has now joined Reform UK, supported a bill saying that MPs who cross the floor should face a recall petition. He supported Tory Anthony Mangnall's demand for voters to decide if they were happy with their MP switching sides.
But today he said he would do no such thing, despite giving a blistering assessment of Tory failures. Mr Anderson was one of 55 who backed Mr Mangnall's Bill, which said it was "clearly a breach of the spirit of the contract between ourselves and our constituents" to change party.
Asked if he'd let voters in his Ashfield constituency have their say, he said: "It would be pretty reckless of me to suggest a by election when there's an election in May." Other MPs, including Tory defectors Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, did stand in by-elections after they switched to UKIP in 2014.
Meanwhile, Mr Anderson revealed his parents told him they wouldn't vote for him if he stayed with the Tories. The loudmouth MP - who was Conservative Party deputy chairman until he quit in January - said: "My mum and dad who told me they could not vote for me unless I joined Reform UK. My parents are both nearly 80 and they get it and I must not let them down."
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He then gave a scathing view about the state of the country under the Conservatives. Describing the frustrations of voters he said: "They've got real concerns about the cost of living, about migration, legal migration, illegal migration, stuff like that.
"They're talking about the crime on the streets, the shoplifting, the fact that you can't get a police officer to turn up to your house, when it gets burgled. The fact that people are pulling their own teeth out, you can't get a GP appointment. So I'm here to speak up for them."
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Standing next to Reform UK boss Richard Tice, he went on: "I have to live with my conscience. My conscience is clear, when I go to see my parents yesterday on Mother's Day and they say to me 'you need to join Reform, this country needs saving'.
"We're absolutely fed up to what's happening on the streets of London we're fed up with what's happening up and down the country. We're just fed up. We need change. If my parents are saying that I can sleep well."
Mr Tice said he wouldn't be surprised if other Tory MPs join Mr Anderson in crossing the floor. In a statement the right-wing New Conservatives group - which Mr Anderson was a supporter of - said it regrets his decision to switch.
Leaders Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates said responsibility lay with the Tory Party, stating: "We have failed to hold together the coalition of voters who gave us an 80 seat majority in 2019. Those voters - in our traditional heartlands and in the Red Wall seats like Ashfield - backed us because we offered an optimistic, patriotic, no-nonsense Conservatism. They voted for lower immigration, for a better NHS, for a rebalanced economy, and for pride in our country.
"Our poll numbers show what the public think of our record since 2019. We cannot pretend any longer that 'the plan is working'. We need to change course urgently. "
A Tory spokesman said: “Lee himself said he fully accepted that the Chief Whip had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances. We regret he’s made this decision."