Lee Anderson has continued to make light of his suspension from the Conservative Party in a new post from the pub as he teased a “long week” ahead.
The MP for Ashfield had the Tory whip removed for spouting “anti-Muslim hatred” after he claimed the Mayor of London was controlled by Islamists.
Mr Anderson, who is the now independent MP for Ashfield, has refused to apologise for the allegedly Islamaphobic comments and even doubled down on them in recent days.
Speaking today, he said his “clumsy” words were “born out of sheer frustration at what is happening to our beautiful capital city”.
He continued to suggest he was receiving support from the general public in a social media post even before then.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the MP said he had arrived in the capital on the back of “positive comments” in the evening on February 25.
Mr Anderson posted a picture of a pint of Madrí, a Spanish beer, from an undisclosed pub in London on Sunday.
He captioned the picture “a nightcap” and said the drink was the second of two he had enjoyed that evening.
The MP wrote: “So I have just arrived in London, and due to all the positive comments earlier, I’ve decided to have another pint to get me ready for a long week.”
Underneath the post, one person responded: “Long week of doing what? From what you post your full time job seems to be on that garbage GB News – MP just seems to be a tag and not something you do!”
In a cheeky 11-word response, Mr Anderson quipped back: “You ought to start charging me for living in your head.”
Mr Anderson’s comments have been widely condemned amongst the general public and in Parliament but he still has pockets of support, especially on GB News, for which he presents a weekly programme.
He addressed his allegations via the channel today and refused to apologise, indicating he felt he was correct and that doing otherwise would be a “sign of weakness”.
He said: “If you are wrong, apologising is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.
“But, when you think you are right, you should never apologise because to do so would be a sign of weakness.”
The Prime Minister, while having condemned his ex-colleague’s words, has failed to denounce them as Islamaphobic, stating in an interview with 5 News tonight that “the words were wrong”.
Opposition MPs, including Sir Keir Starmer, have been unequivocal in condemning his behaviour, with the Labour leader calling Mr Sunak “weak” because he lacked the “backbone” to call out Islamophobic sentiment.
Mr Khan defended himself in an article for the Evening Standard, in which he accused Mr Anderson of having “poured petrol on the fires of hatred”.
He called the MP’s comments “unambiguously ignorant, prejudiced and racist”, and said Conservatives were “stubbornly refusing” to call them out in this fashion.
