Nigel Farage branded Lee Anderson’s bombshell switch to Reform UK as “huge”.
The Ashfield MP today announced his move to the insurgent party after losing the Tory whip in an Islamophobia row.
In a post on X, Mr Farage said: “Lee Anderson moving to Reform is huge. I don’t think Westminster really understands this yet.”
Mr Farage is honorary president of the rebranded Brexit Party, which is polling up to 14% nationally and largely attracting disillusioned 2019 Tory voters.
Speaking at a press conference in London alongside Reform UK leader Richard Tice this morning, Mr Anderson declared that he “wants my country back”.
The former Tory deputy chairman said it was a “shocker” that he was suspended from the party for “speaking my mind”.
Mr Anderson said that he was “prepared to gamble” on himself to win his Red Wall seat.
He added: “My parents have been saying to me for weeks now, you cannot win, we can’t vote for you being in the Conservative Party.
“If my parents are saying that, what chance have I got?”
Mr Tice said he has found a “champion of the red wall for Reform UK” in welcoming Mr Anderson to his party.
The businessman said: “He’s also coincidentally going to be Reform UK’s first Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.”
Mr Anderson was suspended from the Conservative Party last month after refusing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
A Tory spokesman said: “Lee himself said he fully accepted that the Chief Whip had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances. We regret he’s made this decision.
“Voting for Reform can’t deliver anything apart from a Keir Starmer-led Labour government that would take us back to square one – which means higher taxes, higher energy costs, no action on Channel crossings, and uncontrolled immigration.”
