“The more my critics criticise me, the more I know I am doing and saying the right things,” proclaimed Lee Anderson after becoming the Conservative party’s deputy chair this week. “If they ever stop criticising me then that’s the time to start worrying.”
There’s no cause for worry just yet. In just a few short days since being given his new role, the Ashfield MP has received a backlash for advocating the death penalty and for clashing with a radio presenter over accusations of dishonesty.
Anderson prides himself on his straight-talking views and remaining grounded in the Ashfield community he represents – at least, those who aren’t members of the “Lee Anderson doesn’t speak for me” Facebook group.
Last year in a GB News interview, he said: “I’ve never lived more than five miles from where I was born. I know what working-class people are thinking. I shoot from the hip and I say the things that I believe my constituents feel.”
He was widely criticised when he vowed to boycott England football games over players’ decision to take the knee, and when he said the main cause of food poverty was a lack of cooking and budgeting skills (he insisted nutritious meals could easily be cooked for 30p a time). But over the years he has spoken out on a wide range of issues.
On protests
Responding to the Extinction Rebellion protests that took place across the UK in 2021, Anderson said: “Maybe it’s time to bring back the water cannons which would help disperse the crowds and give our streets a good clean whilst allowing our police officers to get on with the day job. I live in hope.”
On food bank users
In a Telegraph interview last month, Anderson doubled down on his views that food bank usage has increased because people do not know how to budget.
“In a lot of cases these people were just wasting money on fags and booze and non-essentials, non-priority debts, Sky TV or Virgin Media. There was a lot of money they could save,” he said.
“There were takeaways, holidays. In this world, you don’t have the automatic right to have all the nice things in life. You have to work for them and you have to pay for them. Yes, there is a need for food banks for some people who fall on hard times all of a sudden. But there’s a whole industry now. In my opinion, this is a scandal.”
On disciplining children
In a (now deleted) Facebook post responding the Welsh ban on smacking children last year, Anderson reportedly said he supported using physical punishment against children.
The Mansfield Chad reported that he said: “I was a single parent to my boys and there were times when they were growing up that I smacked them for being naughty. When a loving parent smacks a child it affects the parent as well. I would feel terrible for days afterwards but I would think back to my childhood where I received a smack when I was naughty.”
On his outspoken nature
The Mansfield Chad has reported on a number of minor spats and controversies that Anderson has been involved in over the years, including when he received a complaint from the parent of an autistic child about his use of the phrase “on the spectrum” in a Facebook post last year.
“I might not be everybody’s cup of tea – think I am on the spectrum as I struggle to keep my mouth shut,” he said.
When asked to respond to the complaint, he said: “I got in trouble at school for speaking out of turn. It’s followed me all my working life, that’s why I made the comment. I know several MPs on the spectrum, including two good friends of mine.”
On people crossing the Channel
Anderson frequently speaks out about his beliefs that Channel crossings should be stopped, and his support of the plan to deport people seeking UK asylum to Rwanda.
Earlier this year he visited Calais to experience first-hand how charities were helping people in the camps there.
“I’m furious, I’m foaming at the mouth over this Care4Calais organisation,” he said. “They’re acting like a magnet for these young men to set up camp here. They’re basically feeding them, clothing them, they’re teaching them how to speak English, how to read and write in English, and waiting for them once they cross the Channel and volunteering hotels to support them while they’re there. This is absolutely scandalous.”
