Exclusive: New Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson Said The Party Was ‘Ghastly’
Lee Anderson was elected Tory MP for Ashfield in 2019.
The Conservatives’ new deputy chairman described the party as “ghastly” and not on the side of working people.
Lee Anderson launched his outspoken attack in an online article seven years ago when he was still a Labour councillor.
The controversial MP for Ashfield was appointed to his new role by Rishi Sunak earlier today.
He has previously been condemned for comments he has made about nurses who use food banks.
But writing for LabourList in 2016, he said: “I know the cycle of benefit dependency is not an easy one to break and that it’s not an easy problem to solve.
“But I want Labour to be the party that solves it – not the ghastly Conservative Party of Iain Duncan Smith or George Osborne.
“They don’t truly understand working people and they never will.”
Anderson, who also worked for former Labour MP Gloria de Piero, defected to the Conservatives in 2018 and became an MP the following year.
His promotion to deputy party chairman was announced as part of the prime minister’s mini-reshuffle earlier today.
Yes it's true.
From the Pits to Parliament. Feeling very proud.https://t.co/ea5OM2NZeu— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) February 7, 2023
Anderson has repeatedly clashed with critics over whether food banks are necessary amid the cost of living crisis.
Last year he told parliament a lot of people only use food banks because they “can’t cook a meal from scratch” and “cannot budget”.
“Anybody earning 30 odd grand a year, which most nurses are, using food banks, then they’ve got something wrong with their own finances,” he said.
Anderson was also accused of using a junior member of his staff as a “political football” after he tweeted about her financial situation.
