Lee Anderson’s future in the Conservative Party is uncertain after he was suspended in an Islamophobia row.
The outspoken Ashfield MP was stripped of the Tory whip over the weekend after he refused to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr Anderson, who is now sitting in the House of Commons as an independent, has continued to refuse to apologise.
But he made clear to the Daily Express earlier this week that he wants to return to the Tory fold.
The former Conservative Party deputy chairman said: “The party has done a lot for me. It rescued me when I was politically homeless.
“Of course I want to be back in the party but I stand by the things I said last week and I won’t apologise.”
However he has now ruled out standing for Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party, at the next general election.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other senior Conservatives have branded Mr Anderson’s comments about Mr Khan as “wrong”.
But they have stopped short of describing them as “Islamophobic”.
The Labour London Mayor has urged the Prime Minister to call the remarks racist and Islamophobic.
It comes after months of tensions over pro-Palestine protests in London in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
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