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.

So where does this leave both Sunak and Anderson? While many Tory colleagues were dismayed by Anderson’s comments, there are others who will be sad to see him stripped of the whip. Despite his decision to recently quit as deputy chairman over the Rwanda bill, Anderson is a popular figure within the Tory party. He is a grassroots favourite and has been praised for his straight talking nature. When Anderson was initially appointed deputy chairman, it was partly so Sunak had a prominent figure who spoke to the red wall.

At a time when some Tories, including Suella Braverman, are speaking out on the importance of not being cowed by pressure from Islamist extremism over Palestine, Anderson could find some support in the party still. However, there are plenty of MPs on the right of the party who think Anderson went too far and that his comments came across as anti-Muslim rather than anti-Islamist extremism.

No. 10 will hope that by taking decisive action it has shown there is a line not to be crossed on the issue and MPs will be held to these standards. But with Anderson a figure who has long been tipped as a potential Reform defector given his red wall seat and views, the risk is that this opens up another round of Tory civil war. Were Anderson to now defect to Reform, it would create a headache for the Conservatives.