Conservative MPs have revealed their constituents’ fury after Lee Anderson was suspended as a Tory MP last week.
In leaked WhatsApps, Red Wall MPs began sharing emails from their voters over the weekend, leading to the MP for Darlington Peter Gibson branding Mr Anderson “a huge asset to our party”.
Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer shared a constituents’ email with the “109” chat of new intake MPs, which said Mr Anderson’s suspension is “the final nail in your party’s coffin”.
She asked her colleagues if “anyone else [is] getting these in”.
The query sparked immediate confirmation from other Red Wall MPs, including Derbyshire Dales Sarah Dines who revealed she’d had “loads” of similar correspondence, including from “random constituents [who are] not know supports. Interesting.”
Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton said she has lodged concerns with the Tory Party chiefs over Mr Anderson’s suspension due to the level of backlash she’d received from her local members.
Paul Holmes, who is a member of the Government as a PPS to Lord Cameron, joined with those voicing concerns.
The Eastleigh MP warned that Mr Anderson’s suspension “will drive the agenda that we can’t speak up on things. Especially after last Wednesday and the protests we saw”.
On Twitter, long-time Lee Anderson ally Marco Longhi MP responded to one user asking him to “stand by your pall”, assuring: “Lee is my friend, nothing has changed”.
Responding to the swathe of messages seen by the Telegraph, Tory chairman Richard Holden stepped in to say “the last thing I wanted to see was one of ours lose the whip”.
Speaking on a broadcast round yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden sparked backlash from the Left after he defended the substance of what both Lee Anderson and Suella Braverman had been referring to when warning about Islamist threats.
He also revealed that Mr Anderson would have kept the Tory whip had he apologised for his specific comments regarding London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr Dowden rejected accusations that Mr Anderson had been “intending” to be Islamophobic when he made the comments.
He defended former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, arguing her language did not cross a line and blasted the “un-British” threats to democracy from extremist Islamists.
The top Tory also told GB News that Mr Anderson could receive the whip back ahead of the election, saying: “I certainly wouldn’t rule that out.”
Cabinet minister David TC Davies echoed Mr Dowden, saying Mr Anderson has “made a good contribution to the Conservative Party over the years, and I hope this issue is going to get sorted out”.
Reform UK, which has been reportedly courting Mr Anderson for months to make a defection, played down the possibility he could join the Nigel Farage-Richard Tice outfit, but defended his comments.
Mr Tice warned: “The sentiment of what Lee was trying to say is that millions of Britons are very concerned about these extreme Islamists dominating these marches and creating a sense of fear across the UK.”
