Tory Rebel Lee Anderson Abstains After Labour MPs ‘Take the Mick’ Out Of Him
Despite making clear his intention to vote against the Rwanda bill, Tory MP and GB News host Lee Anderson said he abstained from the vote on Wednesday after Labour MPs in the No lobby began “taking the mick” out of him.
With his tail between his legs, having resigned as Conservative deputy chair just 24-hours earlier in protest against the Rwanda bill, a key figure in the failed rebellion against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Anderson told GB News that he couldn’t bring himself to vote with the opposition.
He said: “I got into the ‘No’ lobby. I spent about two or three minutes with a colleague in there. The Labour lot was giggling and laughing and taking the mick and I couldn’t do it in my heart of hearts. I could not vote no, so I walked out and came out, so I abstained. I wanted to vote no, but when I saw that lot in there, laughing there was no way I could support them.”
Anderson expressed the decision as a dilemma: “I couldn’t see how I could support the bill… [but] there is no way I could support [Labour] above the party that has given me a political home.”
Coming short of a grovelling apology, he continued: “I hope it stops the boats and from now on the Prime Minister has got my full support.”
“You seem quite crestfallen,” his GB News colleague observed.
“I am. I’m gutted mate, to be honest with you,” Anderson replied. “It’s not a nice thing to do, to watch your mates going to one lobby and you going to another. I said I went into the no lobby to rebel. This is the key word at the moment. But once I saw the Labour lot sniggling and taking the mick…”
Anderson’s absence from the list of Tory rebels was initially puzzling, especially after his bold declaration earlier this week in his letter of resignation: “I don’t think I could carry on in my role when I fundamentally disagree with the bill. I can’t be in a position to vote for something I don’t believe in.”
Now, however, after betting it all, being one of the first rebels over the top, having given up his party deputy chair role and having failed to stop the bill, it is the humiliating sound of Labour MPs laughing at him marks the end of this feverish episode for Anderson.
