Lee Anderson to defect from Conservatives to Reform UK – reports

The former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party is reportedly joining the Nigel Farage-linked right-wing populist party.

Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson is reportedly defecting to Reform UK, in a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Ashfield MP was kicked out of the Conservative Party last month in an Islamophobia row.

He is set to join the Nigel Farage-linked right-wing populist party, according to the Telegraph and GB News.

Party leader Richard Tice is expected to announce the move at a press conference in London at 10.30am on Monday.

Mr Anderson was stripped of the Tory whip after refusing to apologise for claiming that “Islamists” had “got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

The switch to Reform UK, which comes after weeks of speculation about a possible defection by Mr Anderson, would give the party its first MP.

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.

Arch Brexiteer Mr Farage is the honorary president of Reform UK, which is seeking to attract disillusioned Conservative voters mainly over the issue of immigration.

Responding to reports that Mr Anderson will defect to Reform, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak’s authority lies in tatters after the man he personally appointed to be deputy chairman of the Conservatives has defected to another party.

“This is a Prime Minister that cannot govern his own party, let alone the country.

“Even now, Sunak is too weak to rule out Nigel Farage joining the Conservative Party. It just shows that there is now hardly a cigarette paper between the Conservative Party and Reform.”