Parliament has been hit with a ‘cash for seats’ row as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was forced to deny it offered cash to the Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson to defect.
Mr Anderson claimed that he had been offered "a lot of money" to join Reform, formerly the Brexit Party.
The outspoken MP, dubbed ‘30p Lee’ for his views on foodbanks and how much it costs to cook a meal from scratch, also claimed Labour plans to bring in votes at 16 would kill off the Tories “for generations”.
Mr Farage, who is currently appearing in the latest series of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity, is the Reform party’s honorary president.
A secret recording taped Mr Anderson telling activists: "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,” according to the Sunday Times.
He also claimed a Labour government would bring in votes for 16-year-olds, telling his audience “if they do that, you might as well just rip your memberships up now, because you'll never see a Conservative (government), not in my lifetime, again... we're done for, you know, for generations.”
Richard Tice, the current leader of Reform, rejected the claim, made by Mr Anderson at a event at South Cambridgeshire Conservative Association last month.
Mr Tice said: "These are the same libellous allegations first made by (Chief Whip) Simon Hart MP back in February.
"He heard from my lawyers. That case is still live to be progressed at my choosing.”
Later he told the BBC that: “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.” He added: “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.”
Mr Anderson is a favourite of Tory activists and MPs on the right of the party and has a show on GB News, where Mr Farage is also a host.
Earlier this month, the MP for Ashford appeared to challenge Rishi Sunak’s authority when he suggested ministers should "ignore the law" and start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Just hours before the latest claims broke, the prime minister warned dissatisfied Tory voters that backing Reform would put Labour in Downing Street.
"A vote for everyone who is not a Conservative is a vote to put Keir Starmer into office," Mr Sunak told the Mail on Sunday.
It was reported earlier this year that Mr Hart had reported Reform UK to the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle over allegations the party had offered MPs who defected a full salary for five years - even if they lost their seats.
Mr Rice at the time labelled the claims as "nonsense".
The Conservatives whip's office declined to comment.
Mr Anderson has been approached for comment.
