Lee Anderson has defended his comments made against London Mayor Sadiq Khan in an exclusive interview with GB News, after the former Tory Deputy Chair had his whip suspended.
The row follows comments made by Anderson in which he implied that Khan was “under the control of Islamists” and the Mayor has “given our capital city away to his mates”.
Speaking to reporters earlier today, Khan hit out at Anderson’s decision to double down and not apologise, claiming the Tories are “pouring petrol on the flames of Islamophobia.”
In response to Anderson’s admission that the comments he made were “clumsy”, the London Mayor fumed: “Racism is racism, whether the victim is Jewish or Muslim.”
Lee Anderson says he will not apologise to Sadiq Khan ‘while there’s breath in his body’
GB News
In a discussion with GB News host Patrick Christys, Anderson denied that his comments were racist, and claimed that the Conservative Party “could have given him more backing” rather than suspending the whip.
When asked by Patrick if he will apologise, Anderson said he will not apologise “while he has breath in his body” and while “nobody can explain what Islamophobia really means”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has denied that Conservatives have “Islamophobic tendencies” as a result of the row, and called Anderson’s remarks “wrong, ill-judged, and unacceptable”.
Anderson admitted that the Prime Minister’s decision was “not an overreaction”, but affirmed his plans to stand at the next election.
Christopher Hope asked Lee Anderson if he would join the Reform Party
GB News
Anderson told GB News that he has been inundated with support across social media, from both his constituents and Conservative MPs.
When pressed on the identities of the MPs, Anderson told Patrick and Christopher: “I’m not going to tell you who they are, but some people it’s actually surprised me with the words of support.”
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Anderson told GB News of the row: “I think the argument is because I picked out one specific person, Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. But when I speak about Sadiq Khan and London, they’re in the same breath. They are the same person. Sadiq Khan is London.
“He runs London. He’s responsible for everything. He is Mr London. So I stick by my words in that we are losing control of the city, when people again and again can come out and demonstrate and shout murderous chants and put these graphics onto onto Big Ben from the river to the sea and nothing happens.
“We’ve got yobbo’s running around with masks on, which is now illegal, and the police stand idly by and do nothing. Who has got control of Parliament Square? Is it the extremists or is it Mayor Khan and the Metropolitan Police?”
Anderson admitted he “isn’t everybody’s cup of tea”, but stated that his comments are “what normal people are thinking”, in particular his constituency of Ashfield.
Lee Anderson says Sadiq Khan is ‘losing control’ of the city of London
GB News
When grilled by Christopher Hope on possibly joining Richard Tice’s Reform UK and leaving the Tories behind, Anderson shut down the question, but didn’t rule out the possibility.
Anderson stated: “I won’t give a running commentary – I have been on a political journey and it’s been an incredible journey and I’m incredibly proud to be sat in there and we’ve done some good work with the Conservative Party, despite what people think. But this is a distraction, it’s a distraction that I really didn’t want.
“There’s 650 of us in that place over there, and we see what’s going off on Parliament Square every single week now. It’s terrifying. And if not one person in that chamber can speak up about what’s going off on our streets, then really we shouldn’t be there.
“I’m not going to comment on my future. I shall be sat in the chamber this afternoon on the Conservative benches and there’s no votes today, but there’ll be votes tomorrow. I’ll be voting with the government.”
