Will Lee Anderson defect to Reform?

Lee Anderson has been suspended from the Conservative party following comments he made about Sadiq Khan. The former deputy party chairman used an appearance on GB News on Friday to claim the London mayor had ‘given our capital away’ to Islamists, who he referred to as Khan’s ‘mates’. This afternoon a spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said he had suspended the Conservative whip from Anderson ‘following his refusal to apologise’ for his remarks.

Since the programme aired, a number of Tory MPs have expressed their upset at Anderson’s comments. This includes former chancellor Sajid Javid who called them ‘ridiculous’. Meanwhile, Labour has gone on the attack — Khan himself said the ‘deafening silence from Rishi Sunak and from the cabinet is them condoning this racism’. It put No. 10 under pressure to comment. There was an initial effort to save Anderson from suspension through the compromise of an apology — but this was not something the MP was comfortable doing.