Lee Anderson insisted he is not rebelling by backing amendments to the Rwanda Bill.
The Tory deputy chairman is joining around 60 right-wing MPs in signing amendments designed to toughen up the legislation.
The Ashfield MP said he is supporting changes to the Safety of Rwanda Bill to ensure that it works.
Mr Anderson told GB News: “This is not a rebellion, this is about making sure that the Bill is beefed up a little bit.
“Brendan and I both agree with pretty much 90 per cent of this Rwanda Bill.
“We just feel that there’s a few areas in the Bill that could be strengthened to make sure that it’s watertight.
“And let’s not forget we’re less than a year away from a general election and the last thing I want is Labour coming in and repealing the Rwanda scheme and opening the borders to 100,000 illegal migrants which they will do if they sign up to any EU deal.
“So this is not all about us rebelling, it is about saying you know what most of the Bill is satisfactory, you just need to beef it up a little bit, close all those loopholes and make sure that people can’t come over here and break into our country and use it and use spurious claims. That’s all that’s what it’s about.”
Fellow Tory deputy chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith is also backing the amendments.
The Bassetlaw MP said: “The fact of the matter is we all want to make this legislation work.
“Sometimes you have to say what’s in your heart, sometimes you have to say what you think is going to make that legislation better.
“We want the Government to succeed with this, it’s not about me or Lee, what is is about is those people at home who are sick and tired of seeing people cheat our system, genuine asylum seekers not actually being able to be dealt with because you’ve got economic migrants who are cheating that system.
“The Labour Party will have open borders completely, so we’re not bothered about our roles we just want to make this work and that’s what it’s all about.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is faced with a dilemma over whether to sack Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith from their party posts.
While the deputy chairmanship is not a Government role, holders would be expected to back its positions.
More than 60 right-wing MPs have backed amendments seeking to toughen up the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which returns to the Commons today for six hours of debate and voting.
But MPs on the left of the party will oppose any moves to strengthen the legislation aimed at getting the plan to deport Channel migrants to the African nation.
