Senior Tories hope Lee Anderson’s article for the Express provides a “way back” for him into the party.
The former Conservative deputy chairman insisted he is “not a racist” after an Islamophobia row led to him losing the party whip.
Cabinet Office Minister Alex Burghart said Mr Anderson’s “carefully chosen words” in our paper had “clarified” what he was trying to say.
He told GB News: “What Lee said last week was a bit clumsy…I very much want him to stay part of the Conservative family.”
Mr Burghart said he did not want to see Mr Anderson defect to Reform, adding: “I don’t think we’re going to see that today.”
Mr Burghart went on: “If you look at the very carefully chosen words he put in the Express today, that’s a good indication of how he sort of clarified some of his meaning. But, look, this is a matter for the Chief Whip. I’m not going to stray on to his territory.
“We have a chief whip who will be considering these things and considering what Lee said, clarifying his remarks and perhaps rowing back slightly from some of them, as I think he should do, because I think it’s wrong…reading his piece in the Express morning, I think he recognises that, but as I say, we have an internal process.”
Mr Anderson had the whip withdrawn after refusing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan.
The MP set out his case for refusing to say sorry in an article for the Express, writing: “The simple fact is I am not a racist but in this day and age the opposition are very quick to use the race card for political advantage and unfortunately some of my colleagues also fell into the race trap.”
Conservative MP Philip Davies said he hoped there was way to give Mr Anderson the whip back.
He said: “I hope on the back of that where Lee clarifies what he was trying to say the first time around, and obviously it’s a lot easier to do that when you write an article than when you are speaking off the cuff, I hope we can find a way that he can have the Conservative whip back.”
