The Conservative Party has announced that it has suspended former deputy chairman Lee Anderson from the party after he refused to apologise for asserting that London Mayor Sadiq Khan is controlled by “Islamists”.
The Conservative MP for Ashfield and former deputy chairman Lee Anderson had the whip suspended from him on Saturday evening as the Tory Party bowed to pressure from leftist Labour Party London Mayor Sadiq Khan and liberal members of the political and media classes who expressed outrage on his behalf.
Anderson sparked outrage after telling GB News on Friday: “I don’t actually believe that these Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is that they’ve got control of Khan, they’ve got control of London. He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.”
His comments were in reference to an article written by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who was ousted from her role over her critiques of anti-Israel protests in London and her disagreements with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak immigration. Braverman argued that “the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge” of the UK.
Khan responded to the remarks from Anderson by branding them as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist” and claiming that they “pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred”.
Anderson was also condemned by fellow Conservative MP, Nus Ghani, a practising Muslim, who said: “I don’t for one moment believe that Sadiq Khan is controlled by Islamists… To say so is both foolish and dangerous. Frankly, this is all so tiring.”
Despite the media firestorm surrounding the comments, the MP for Ashfield refused to back down from his comments. It was the refusal to apologise that prompted his suspension from the Conservative Party within the House of Commons.
A spokesman for Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart said per the BBC: “Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the Chief Whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson MP.”
Anderson, a former Labour Party councillor who defected to the Tories in 2018 over Labour’s embracing of the far-left, served as the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party until January, when he resigned over, in his view, the government failing to go far enough to stop illegal migration during the Rwanda vote.
Following his suspension, Anderson said per GB News: “Following a call with the Chief Whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the Prime Minister in with regard to my comments.
“I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
“However, I will continue to support the Government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that anti-semitism or islamophobia.”
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