30p Lee (Anderson) becomes three-party Lee in defection to Reform UK
A former Tory MP who was suspended for claiming London Mayor Sadiq Khan had ceded the streets of London to Islamist extremists has defected to Reform UK.
Lee Anderson, who was once dubbed “30p Lee” for claiming that it was possible for people in poverty to make a nutritious meal for 30p, has now been re-nicknamed “Three-Party Lee” in recognition of his political journey from being a Labour councillor to a Conservative MP and now to a Reform UK MP.
Here’s Richard Tice, that company’s party’s leader, announcing that the Leeanderthal is his party’s first MP.
Well, this isn't awkward at all, and Lee Anderson looks very happy. pic.twitter.com/feCBa5pVTE
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 11, 2024
Anderson immediately took aim at Workers’ Party MP George Galloway:
Here @reformparty_uk confirm that they are firmly on the side of the establishment and view @georgegalloway and the @WorkersPartyGB as the REAL opposition. https://t.co/MnvAdKlOjJ
— Workers Party of Britain (@WorkersPartyGB) March 11, 2024
But it seems that defecting to Reform UK has come with a startling loss of memory. Only two months ago, in January, Anderson said any MP changing their party should trigger a by-election, otherwise their legitimacy should be questioned.
In 2020, Lee Anderson voted for the Recall of MPs (Change of Party Affiliation) Bill – which requires an MP to call a by-election if they defect. https://t.co/NxmjaCnuWK
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) March 11, 2024
The obvious question arises:
Just noting that the Workers Party have an elected MP courtesy of the electorate and a by election. Reform have one the basis of a defection. Why don't Tice & Anderson trigger a by-election? https://t.co/fTUIVLWxDI
— Mark Seddon (@MarkSeddon1962) March 11, 2024
He’s definitely not having one:
Lee Anderson bottles by-election despite backing call for defecting MPs to face onehttps://t.co/cCR96VkDZx
— Dave Burke (@DaveBurke12) March 11, 2024
In fact, a few people have referred to this – some of them in less diplomatic language than others:
There should be a byelection when an MP changes party allegiance as 30pLee was elected on a Tory ticket not a ReformUK stitch up if the corrupt establishment want to maintain their myth of democracy.
Proves the point that democracy as the "establishment" calls it doesn't exist. https://t.co/t1ECoeCQwi— Carole Hawkins (@hawkins_carole) March 11, 2024
He also said, around the same time, that “Reform is not the answer”, and that Tice’s party would open the door for Keir Starmer and Labour:
Nine weeks is a long time in politics. https://t.co/or7CkGTxcw
— Mark Seddon (@MarkSeddon1962) March 11, 2024
So, a double-hypocrite, then?
One has to question why Anderson decided to defect at all.
Previously Reform UK tried to attract MP's to join their party by offering to pay them their next 5 years of MP's salary, even if they lose in the next General Election.
30p Lee Anderson couldn't have been bought so cheaply could he?
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) March 11, 2024
Did this play any part in it?
He certainly seemed very thin-skinned when at least one reporter challenged him on his decision, suggesting that it was all about his own self-aggrandisement:
These plain-speaking I-can-say-what-I-want types are always so thin-skinned https://t.co/yINwSth82A
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) March 11, 2024
And what of the Conservative Party? Danny Kruger appeared on the BBC’s Politics Live to say that Anderson’s defection is a wake-up call for the Tories, who need to examine their own policy platform and (apparently) be less harsh on Islamophobes in order to regain the enormous mandate they won in 2019:
“I regret the decision he’s taken”
Conservative MP Danny Kruger tells #PoliticsLive, Lee Anderson’s defection to Reform is a “wake-up call” for his partyhttps://t.co/FO5ceCMGwD pic.twitter.com/nV4rCs4S4O
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 11, 2024
Shurely shome mishtake?
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