"Absolutely not... don’t be so ridiculous": Right-wing MP Lee Anderson denies taking money to switch from Conservatives to Reform UK
12.03.2024 - 10:03
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Ex-Tory MP Lee Anderson has said he is no mercenary after joining Reform UK as he denied being paid to switch allegiances. Mr Anderson also told GB News the Conservative Party had not contacted him ahead of being unveiled as Reform’s first MP.
The MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire had been forced to sit as an independent after being stripped of the Tory whip last month for suggesting London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan was being controlled by Islamist extremists.
He refused to apologise for the remarks that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branded “wrong”, effectively blocking off any route to being brought back into the Tory fold.
On Monday evening during an appearance on GB News, which pays him £100,000 a year for hosting a show, on top of his £86,584 pay as an MP, Mr Anderson denied any money exchanged hands ahead of his Reform defection.
He told the broadcaster: “No, absolutely not. One hundred per cent, don’t be so ridiculous… I’m not a mercenary. I’ve had no money.”
Some Tories see Reform UK as a challenger at the general election expected this year with signs of growing support for the party as it polls at around 10% of national voting intention.
Arch Brexiteer Nigel Farage is the honorary president of the party, which is seeking to attract disillusioned Conservative voters, mainly over the issues of immigration and net zero.
Reform finished in third place in two recent by-elections, although its candidate in the Rochdale contest – former Labour MP Simon Danczuk – had a poor showing.
Party leader Richard Tice has ruled out standing aside to avoid splitting the Leave vote in some seats, as the party did under its Brexit Party name in 2019.
Mr Anderson, who had been seen as the voice of the so-called red wall — the