Lee Anderson claims he was offered a lot of money to defect to Reform UK

Reform UK leader denies paying Lee Anderson to defect to party

Lee Anderson claimed he was offered “a lot of money” to defect to Reform UK.

The Tory deputy chairman reportedly made the comment about switching to the Nigel Farage-linked party at a South Cambridgeshire Conservative Association event last month.

In a recording obtained by the Sunday Times, the Ashfield MP said: “Now there is a political party that begins with an R that offered me a lot of money to join them.

“I say a lot of money, I mean a lot of money.”

But Reform UK leader Richard Tice insisted that “no cash or money” has been offered to Tory MPs to defect to the party, of which Mr Farage is honorary president.

Mr Tice told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’m very happy to confirm that I’ve had numerous discussions with a number of Tory MPs, ministers, former ministers, who are absolutely furious with the complete betrayal of the Government’s promises, furious with the failure to stop the boats, furious with opening the borders to mass immigration.

“Obviously I will keep those discussions completely confidential but let me make it absolutely clear, no cash or money has in any way been offered, what has been offered is the chance to change the shape of the debate.

“What’s really happened here is that Lee Anderson has used the threat of defecting to Reform to negotiate himself the deputy chairmanship of the Tory party because this story first appeared almost exactly the same, in the time back in February when coincidentally, he was made deputy chairman of the Tory party.”

It comes as Rishi Sunak has warned Tory voters against backing Reform UK at the next general election.

The Prime Minister told the Mail on Sunday: “A vote for everyone who is not a Conservative is a vote to put Keir Starmer into office.

“The question for people who care about tackling migration, who want to get our taxes down, who think we need to have more common sense in our discourse is: do you want Keir Starmer or me to be your prime minister?”

Mr Sunak’s comments were echoed by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott, who insisted she was not worried about Reform UK outflanking the Tories from the right.

She told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News: “I’d be very clear that a vote for Reform or any other party which is not Conservative is a vote for Keir Starmer as prime minister.

“But what I would say is one of the reasons it’s so important for me to come on shows like yours is for us to communicate as a government what we are doing to stop the boats.”

Mr Farage, who led Reform UK during its previous incarnation as the Brexit Party, has been seeking to win over viewers with his stint on ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here.

Earlier this year it was reported that chief whip Simon Hart met Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle over allegations Reform UK had offered Tory MPs who defected a full salary for five years even if they lost their seats.

At the time, Mr Tice branded the claims as “nonsense”.

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