Lee Anderson hit back at Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth in a row over his attendance at a Tory fundraiser.
The Ashfield MP, who lost the Conservative whip in an Islamophobia row, joined former prime minister Liz Truss and fellow Red Wall MP Brendan Clarke-Smith at the dinner in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, on Friday.
Mr Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, fumed that his appearance at the event was “staggering”.
Responding on X, Mr Anderson said today: “Let’s be clear… No one tells me where I can go on a Friday night for a drink with friends John. This is a free country and I will go where I am welcome.
“The only thing that is staggering is how you keep being re-elected. Come and stand against me in Ashfield. Let’s see who is right.”
Mr Ashford said: “It’s staggering how Rishi Sunak allows both Lee Anderson with his abhorrent Islamophobia and Liz Truss to so blatantly thwart his authority and expose his weak leadership.”
Mr Anderson, the best-known MP in the so-called northern Red Wall, was stripped of the Tory whip last weekend after refusing to apologise for claiming Islamists had “got control” of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the outspoken MP’s comments were “wrong”.
