Lee Anderson slammed “Corbyn lovers” during a heated exchange on GB News.
The channel posted a clip yesterday of a live exchange between Reform MP Anderson, political editor Chris Hope and commentator Nigel Nelson, in which they discussed a potential electoral pact between Nigel Farage’s party and the Conservatives.
Leaked audio this week appeared to show Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, speaking favourably about a deal between his party and Reform.
However, Ashfield MP Anderson was quick to deny the rumours when questioned by host Martin Daubney. He said: “We’re not making no deals, we’re certainly not talking to them.”
Anderson added Jenrick was speaking “like a proper conservative” and recommended he “inject the rest of the Conservative party with his Ozempic”, a reference to the weight loss drug Jenrick admitted to taking in the past.
GB News political editor Chris Hope then pressed Anderson on the subject of an electoral pact. He said: “Everyone behind the scenes is talking about the deal you will do with the Conservative party.”
At this point, Anderson quipped: “I won’t take lectures off a Corbyn lover.”
After a moment of laughter, the conversation resumed with a point made by the channel’s chief political commentator Nigel Nelson.
He said Reform’s current position could be viewed in parallel to the SDP’s before the 1983 general election, when they performed strongly in the polls but were ultimately soundly defeated, and subsumed by the Liberal party.
Nelson said: “The point here is that this could be history repeating itself.
“What happened to the SDP is instructive for your party. They in ‘83 were at their height, they were running at 25% in the polls and then what happened is they were swallowed up by the Liberals.
“If you end up being with the Tories and there’s not room for two right-wing parties in this country, Reform will disappear, you’ll get swallowed up by them.”
Anderson was quick to resist Nelson’s argument, replying: “No, the Conservative party in its current state is not a right-wing party.”
He then argued that just “a third” of current Conservative MPs were conservative in their values, while “another third are wet liberal” and the rest “haven’t got a clue what they are.”
When pressed by Hope, who asked if there was anyone in the Conservatives whom Anderson would take into the “clammy embrace” of Reform, he was once again quick with a Corbyn-related put-down.
“Have you ever seen [Hope] or Nigel Nelson in the same room as Jeremy Corbyn? They could be the same person,” Anderson replied.
Again, Hope pressed him on the question of a Reform-Conservative pact, asking: “If you have a chance to stop Labour getting in for five more years, why not swallow your pride?”
Anderson responded saying: “We’re ahead in the polls consistently. We’re making massive gains, it’s the Tories that are frit, they’re running scared. The only deal we’ve got to do is with the Great British public.”
