Sunak’s Lee Anderson problem isn’t going away

It’s day five of the Lee Anderson debacle and the row shows no signs of abating. Rishi Sunak is having to defend from both sides his decision to withdraw the whip from the red wall MP – who represents the marginal seat of Ashfield – after Anderson used a GB News appearance to say that ‘Islamists have got control’ of London mayor Sadiq Khan, who had given the city away to ‘his mates’.

As well as suspending Anderson, Sunak has described the comments as ‘wrong’ – adding that he does not think Anderson is ‘a racist person’. Those on the left want Sunak to go further – with Labour going on the attack on the grounds that the Prime Minister has refused to call Anderson’s intervention Islamophobic. But on the other side, Sunak is under pressure from the right of his party for failing to get the balance right and to offer much support to his former colleague.