Reform UK MP Lee Anderson in dramatic ‘scuffle’ with anti-Brexit campaigner in Westminster
Police had to step in during an ugly face-off between Reform MP Lee Anderson and an anti-Brexit campaigner outside Parliament.
Video footage shows Mr Anderson and Steve Bray bait each other before the MP reached for the notorious protester’s hat. Pushing him away, Mr Bray shouted: “He’s a thug, he needs arresting.”
Mr Anderson in turn called for his adversary to be led away by police. The dramatic scuffle has been seized on by suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who lashed out at his former colleague and said he looks forward to seeing how Nigel Farage responds.
Mr Bray, who has been a fixture in Westminster for more than five years, branded Reform chief whip Mr Anderson “a coward, a thug, a thief”. Mr Anderson branded the Stop Brexit campaigner a drain on public finances as the duo clashed with two officers watching on. As Mr Bray lectured him, the MP asked him to stop shouting and likened him to a “playground bully”.
“This is an MP lying through his teeth,” Mr Bray exclaimed. “How many parties have you been in Lee? You just jump ship.”
Mr Anderson then tapped Mr Bray’s hat before being pushed back as a crowd gasped in excitement. He urged police, who stepped between the two men, to arrest Mr Bray.
The clip also shows Mr Bray shout “loser” at former Tory minister Bim Afolami, who lost his seat at the general election last year.
He made his jibe at the Reform MP because Mr Anderson was a Labour councillor before switching to the Tories, climbing to deputy party chairman. He then joined Reform UK after being suspended by the Conservatives for unacceptable remarks about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The pair have a long history of verbal clashes in Whitehall. Mr Anderson told GB News: “This professional nuisance is a menace to upstanding political figures like myself. The sooner this individual is carted off to the job centre, the better.”
A video of the incident with Mr Bray was gleefully shared by Mr Lowe, who is locked in a bitter war of words with the Reform leadership. Mr Lowe, who denies claims of bullying and threatening violence, posted on Twitter: “Following swearing at a Parliamentary security guard, this is a pattern of bullying and aggressive behaviour from Anderson. I look forward to seeing how Reform deals with this concerning development.”
It comes after Mr Anderson was forced to make a grovelling apology in November after a spat with a Parliamentary security worker who asked to see his pass. The MP is claimed to have responded: : “F*** you, I have a train to catch.”
He was ordered to apologise by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which found he had breached Parliament’s bullying and harassment policy. The MP was found to have sworn twice at a security officer after his pass did not work. It left the victim “upset and intimidated” and contributed to him getting another job within Parliament, an investigation report said.
The Mirror has contacted Mr Anderson for comment.
