Lee Anderson should not been suspended, two thirds of Tories say in survey
Rishi Sunak was flawed to droop Lee Anderson for his vile assault on Sadiq Khan, two thirds of Tory supporters stated in a survey.
Mr Anderson had the whip withdrawn the day after he recommended the London Mayor was managed by Islamists. He sparked anger when he informed GB News: “He’s given our capital city away to his mates.”
But regardless of his suspension, he attended a Tory fundraiser with Liz Truss on Friday, and frontbenchers have refused to rule out his being welcomed again. A survey by Conservative Home discovered that 64% of members assume the Ashfield MP should not have been booted out.
The ballot of 751 Conservatives discovered 482 thought Mr Anderson ought to have remained a Tory MP. Meanwhile 232 – slightly below 31% – thought it was proper to droop him, and nearly 5% did not know.
Frontbenchers have repeatedly declined to say whether or not they assume Mr Anderson’s remarks have been Islamophobic – which he denies. At PMQs final week Mr Sunak stated he had suspended Mr Anderson “immediately”, after he “heard something he didn’t agree with”.
But Security Minister Tom Tugendhat went additional, telling the Commons final week: “The whip was removed immediately because anti-Muslim hatred is wrong.” In spite of the controversy, he was reportedly given a standing ovation on Friday, and a “hug” by Ms Truss when he arrived.
Mr Sunak will not self-discipline both Ms Truss or Brendan Clarke-Smith, who hosted the occasion. There has been hypothesis that Mr Anderson may be a part of Reform UK, which he has refused to rule out.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster basic, stated: “It beggars belief that, far from being suspended from the Tories as Rishi Sunak told us, here he is: Lee Anderson, parading around the North Notts rubber chicken circuit with none other than Liz Truss. Given Rishi Sunak deems Mr Anderson as unfit to be a Tory MP, he now needs to bar him from fundraising for the Tory Party.
“Unless he takes motion, Rishi Sunak will once more be uncovered as weaker than ever, and uncontrolled of his chaotic, divided social gathering.”
It comes at a troubling time for the PM, after the Conservatives hit their lowest polling score on record. A poll published by Ipsos UK on Monday suggested just 20% of the public would vote for the Tories at the next election, down seven points since January.
It is the lowest score recorded by the party since Ipsos started its regular polling in 1978. The figure is even lower than the 23% recorded in December 2022, shortly after Mr Sunak replaced Liz Truss as Prime Minister.
This puts the Conservatives 27 points behind Labour, who are on 47%. Ipsos’s previous lowest score for the Conservatives was 22%, recorded by John Major in December 1994 and May 1995, only a few years before Tony Blair’s landslide win in 1997.
