Lee Anderson joining Reform bigger moment than rise of Ukip, Farage says

Lee Anderson joining Reform UK is a bigger moment than the rise of Ukip, Nigel Farage has said.

Mr Anderson, the former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party was suspended from the Tories last month over his refusal to apologise for his claims that Islamists had “got control” of Sadiq Khan and London.

Mr Farage, who led Ukip and now has a backseat role as the honorary president of Reform, said the MP for Ashfield joining Richard Tice’s party was “bigger” than Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless defecting from the Tories to Ukip in 2014.

“Carswell and Reckless were about re-establishing national sovereignty against a political class, that included a Tory Party, which didn’t want that to happen,” Mr Farage said.

“This is about a much bigger issue on how we’re governed, how nothing works anymore, how Britain is broken and our political class and media class in Westminster speak an entirely different language to those who live in the real world. This is seismic, it’s enormous.”

It came as the New Conservatives urged Rishi Sunak to “change course urgently” as they insisted responsibility for Mr Anderson’s defection “sits with the Conservative Party”.

Recap on how the day unfolded below, and join the conversation in the comments section here.

04:05 PM GMTThat’s all for today…

Thank you for joining us on a dramatic day in Westminster as Lee Anderson, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, defected to Reform UK and became the party’s first ever MP.

Addressing a press conference in Westminster, Mr Anderson told reporters: “I want my country back. Over the last year or so I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching on my political journey and I don’t expect much in politics other than to be able to speak my mind and speak on behalf of my friends, family and my constituents.”

A poll at the end of last week had Reform just five percentage points behind the Conservatives, with Labour on track to sweep to a majority some Tory MPs fear could be bigger than the 1997 Blair landslide.

Richard Tice this morning unveiled Lee Anderson as the first ever Reform MP – Henry Nicholls/AFP

Now that Reform has a man in the Commons, Mr Anderson will give Richard Tice’s party a significant profile boost as it seeks to outflank the Conservatives on the Right over net zero, immigration and taxes.

Mr Sunak faces losing out on four fronts at the ballot box – those who are prepared to Labour another chance under Sir Keir Starmer, disaffected Conservatives fed up with both major parties and ready for Reform, liberal Tories in the shires minded to back the Lib Dems, and those who won’t bother voting at all.

How much the events of today will shift the dial remains to be seen. But with Mr Tice confident that further defections are likely to follow, plenty more salt could be rubbed into Tory wounds in these coming weeks – with Mr Sunak needing to convince voters that he can turn things around, and fast.

My colleague Jack Maidment will be back early tomorrow to guide you through another day.

04:03 PM GMT‘I thought I’d put my sword-wielding days behind me!’

Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, surprised shoppers in the Portsmouth suburb of Cosham in newly-released photographs as she paid tribute to her sword-carrying duties at the Coronation.

On a visit to a branch of Barnardo’s, Ms Mordaunt said: “I thought I’d put my sword-wielding days behind me, but I was delighted to make an exception for Barnardo’s.

“Charities like Barnardo’s provide a lifeline for children and young people across the country, and I was honoured to meet so many of their committed staff and volunteers.

Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt

03:54 PM GMTKeir Starmer: Anderson defection shows the Government has ‘run out of road’

Lee Anderson’s defection shows the Government has “run out of road”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking to Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge on Sky, the Labour leader said No 10 was “arguing amongst itself” and the public was more concerned about a general election than a by-election:

03:43 PM GMTWelsh First Minister frontrunner admits ‘embarrassment’ over lost Covid WhatsApps

The frontrunner to become the next First Minister of Wales has admitted it is a “real embarrassment” that his Covid WhatsApps were deleted.

Vaughan Gething, the Health Minister during the pandemic, told the Covid Inquiry it was a matter of regret his messages had not been kept.

Mr Gething is vying to replace Mark Drakeford, the current Labour First Minister of Wales who announced his resignation in December, and will find out on Saturday if he has secured the leadership in a contest against Jeremy Miles.

On the final week of the Inquiry’s Welsh phase Mr Gething, who is now the Minister for the Economy, defended the use of mobile phone messages.

Neil Johnston has the full story here

03:28 PM GMTFarage: Lee Anderson joining Reform a ‘much bigger’ moment than rise of Ukip

Nigel Farage, the honorary life president of Reform, told The Telegraph: “I’ve been comparing this to Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless and I think this is bigger.

“Carswell and Reckless were about re-establishing national sovereignty against a political class, that included a Tory Party, which didn’t want that to happen.

“This is about a much bigger issue on how we’re governed, how nothing works anymore, how Britain is broken and our political class and media class in Westminster speak an entirely different language to those who live in the real world. This is seismic, it’s enormous.”

Mr Farage added: “The sense that something is going wrong, the sense we’re losing our country, the sense our country is being destroyed and we are being bullied by a minority, is now a majority view in Britain that nobody in Britain even dares to express.”

Asked whether he was tempted to return to frontline politics, the former MEP replied: “I’m just a broadcaster and the honorary president of the party. I’m a very innocent soul.”

03:23 PM GMTWe must grip immigration to win back Reform supporters, says Rees-Mogg

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary, told The Telegraph: “I’m sorry to see Lee go, I’m always sorry to see people leave the Conservative Party and I hope he will come back.

“I think it’s a great pity that we are losing supporters and able people to Reform. We need to win them back and we need to win them back by governing effectively.

“I think there are obvious issues at the moment that voters wish to see tackled. These include migration which is an area of great concern and the Government is trying to tackle that, there’s a bill stuck in the Lords. We need to tackle legal migration as well and to be fair the Government is also trying to do something about that but there is not a lot of time between now and a general election.

“Frankly, it was a mistake to take the whip away from Lee Anderson, he admitted that he phrased himself clumsily and Lee has not defected from the Conservative Party, he was expelled and has now joined another party. I think it was an error to have expelled him.”

03:10 PM GMTLabour questions Rishi Sunak’s judgment02:53 PM GMT‘The Conservatives need to be Conservative again’

Dame Andrea Jenkyns, one of just two Tory MPs who has publicly called for Rishi Sunak to go, urged her colleagues on the backbenches to “wake up” in the wake of Mr Anderson’s defection.

“The Conservatives need to be Conservative again,” she wrote on X. “You all sat around as Rome started burning.

“It’s our last chance to get a grip of our party and get a new leader or it’s game over and the socialists are in.”

It is understood Dame Andrea is not planning to follow Mr Anderson to Reform.

02:29 PM GMTWho are Reform UK? The party’s history and its vision under Richard Tice

Founded in 2021 as a relaunch of the Brexit Party, Reform UK has surged to as high as 14 percentage points in the opinion polls and is costing the Conservatives significant support among voters on the political Right.

It now has its first MP in the House of Commons after Lee Anderson, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, defected on March 11 after his suspension over a row about Sadiq Khan, insisting Reform will allow him to “speak my mind”.

Richard Tice and Nigel Farage announced the Brexit Party would become Reform on November 1, 2020 in an article for The Telegraph published at the start of the second Covid lockdown.

Mr Tice and Mr Farage used the joint article to declare “lockdowns don’t work” and instead advocated a policy of “focused protection” for the most vulnerable. They also called for sweeping reform of major institutions beyond the pandemic.

Read more on Reform’s history and vision here

02:01 PM GMTNo religion has a ‘right not to be offended’, says security minister

No religion has a right to be exempt from criticism, the security minister has said ahead of a crackdown on extremism.

Tom Tugendhat said no faith had a right not to be challenged amid concerns that some extremists have used intimidation and threats of violence against those perceived to have insulted Islam.

It follows the case of a teacher in Batley, West Yorkshire, who received death threats after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed during a religious education lesson almost two years ago and has remained in hiding ever since as he fears for his life.

Mr Tugendhat declined to comment on individual cases but he said: “There is absolutely no right for any religion to be offended, if we accepted that then we’d still be Catholic.”

Charles Hymas, our Home Affairs Editor, has more here

01:52 PM GMTAnalysis: The Tories lose their ‘Red Wall Rottweiler’

Nicknamed the “Red Wall Rottweiler” for his forthright opinions, Lee Anderson was brought into the Tory fold as deputy chairman just over a year ago in an attempt to appeal to the millions of largely working-class voters won by the party at the 2019 election.

As deputy chairman, Mr Anderson took part in light-hearted social media videos with Rishi Sunak in which they ridiculed examples of “wokery” going too far.

And in response to his “30p Lee” nickname which sprung out of a row about food bank use, Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, hailed him as “he stands up for me, Lee”:

Anderson will now be standing against a party that is fundamentally split on both his style and substance. His Khan comments appalled the centrist One Nation group of Tory MPs, but many of his Red Wall colleagues deeply regretted his suspension.

His remarks on the Tories failings over illegal migration and the promises made in 2019 are surely food for thought for Red Wallers who, if the polls are to be believed, face electoral oblivion later this year on a Tory ticket.

01:32 PM GMTReform UK’s pledges, at a glance

Reform UK is on course to cost the Conservatives dearly at the next general election as it refuses to stand down its candidates to help Rishi Sunak’s party.

Richard Tice’s insurgent Right-of-centre party scored double-digit vote shares in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Feb 15, matching its national polling levels and depriving the Tories of victory in the latter contest.

Richard Tice walking through Doncaster Racecourse during Reform UK’s spring rally last month – Christopher Furlong

Mr Tice has said unlike the Brexit Party in 2019, he will not step aside for the Tories at the next national poll, even if his refusal to do so would result in a Labour government. He insisted that Mr Sunak’s administration should be “punished”.

There is also speculation about the role that Nigel Farage, Reform’s honorary president, could play at the election. He has declined to rule out a return to frontline politics. The party has, in the meantime, unveiled a draft manifesto titled Our Contract with You.

Here is a summary of its pledges

01:26 PM GMT‘Lee Anderson’s defection will damage the Tories more than they realise’

Lee Anderson joining Reform UK is a huge development on the right of British politics – as big as Douglas Carswell defecting from the Conservatives to Ukip a decade ago, writes Patrick O’Flynn.

Much of the Tory establishment will seek to play down the significance of what is a very major coup for Reform leader Richard Tice. Some of its members will try and depict Anderson as a preposterous figure not cut out for serious politics. But neither charge will ring true.

Lee Anderson and Rishi Sunak in somewhat happier times for the governing party – Jacob King

After all, Anderson is the “Red Wall Rottweiler” appointed by Rishi Sunak as a deputy chairman of the Conservatives precisely to try and help keep together the party’s winning 2019 electoral coalition.

He must now rank as one of Britain’s twenty or so best-known politicians following the row over his remarks criticising London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for being allegedly “controlled by Islamists”.

Patrick O’Flynn: Rishi Sunak has scored a catastrophic own goal

01:09 PM GMTLee Anderson on why he left the Tories

I cannot be a part of an organisation which stifles free speech, and many of my colleagues in that place, in the Conservative Party, do back me on this privately.

12:56 PM GMTAnderson’s defection is on the Tory Party, say New Conservatives

The New Conservatives have said Rishi Sunak must “change course urgently” as they insisted responsibility for Lee Anderson’s defection “sits with the Conservative Party”.

In a statement on behalf of the group – a collection of 20 or so MPs who mostly represent seats in the North and the Midlands – Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, its co-chairmen, said: “We regret Lee’s decision. Supporting Reform makes a less conservative Britain more likely. A Labour government would raise taxes, increase immigration, undo Brexit and divide our society.

“But the responsibility for Lee’s defection sits with the Conservative Party. We have failed to hold together the coalition of voters who gave us an 80 seat majority in 2019.

“Those voters – in our traditional heartlands and in the Red Wall seats like Ashfield – backed us because we offered an optimistic, patriotic, no-nonsense Conservatism. They voted for lower immigration, for a better NHS, for a rebalanced economy, and for pride in our country.

“Our poll numbers show what the public think of our record since 2019. We cannot pretend any longer that ‘the plan is working’. We need to change course urgently.”

They added: “We urge our colleagues to work with us to develop a bold new offer, consistent with the spirit of 2019, that will convince our lost voters that we present a genuine alternative to Labour and the best hope for Britain.”

12:45 PM GMTLee Anderson: I have been cast aside by Tory Party

Lee Anderson, who this morning became the first Reform MP, said he was “cast aside” by the Conservatives in the wake of his suspension over remarks about Sadiq Khan.

In a statement on social media, Mr Anderson wrote: “Following what has been a turbulent few weeks for me, in which I have felt unsupported and cast aside by by own party, I have been left to feel politically isolated for representing the common voice of my loyal constituents in Ashfield.

“I have been asked to reverse comments I have made and the stance I have taken, which I have refused to do. It is the people of Ashfield that have put me into Westminster and it is their voice I will continue to represent, regardless of party line or consequences to myself or my career.”

Lee Anderson means Reform now has its first MP in the Commons – Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

He added: “The situation I find myself in today is that I am no longer part of the Conservative Party, the party have moved me aside and removed the whip as a result of me speaking the truth of the people, which will never change.

“I therefore today announced that I have joined the Reform Party. Richard Tice is fully aware of the values and the needs of Britain and the people of Ashfield, and he has agreed to support my message and the voices of my constituents which is the most important thing to me as not just a politician, but as a decent and proud British citizen who wants nothing more than to take Britain back and give our country the leadership it deserves.”

12:34 PM GMTTory MP calls Anderson ‘big girl’s blouse’12:11 PM GMTLee Anderson: I’m not bothered about if you can trust me

Asked in January by my colleague Amy Gibbons if there was any “conceivable world” in which he would join Reform, Lee Anderson said: “No. Like I said, I have got a debt of gratitude to the Conservative Party, even though I don’t agree with everything we do.

“It was them that gave me the job, gave me the chance to represent my own town. It was them that financially backed me. It’s them that’s protected me. It’s them that’s given me a political home. So why would I knife them in the back?”

Claiming it was an attempt to throw journalists “off the scent”, Mr Anderson said today: “That’s just politics, darling.

“It’s politics. We’re all grown-ups in this room, aren’t we? I’m not going to play my full hand. I’m not going to play a full hand, I’m not going to reveal my full hand to you.”

Challenged on whether he could still be trusted to tell the truth, he said: “I’m not bothered about if you can trust me. Let me tell you this, and print this, nobody trusts any of you lot in this room, journalists, they don’t trust you full stop, so my conscience is clear.”

12:03 PM GMTWatch: Lee Anderson defects from the Tories to Reform11:52 AM GMTReform leader Richard Tice welcomes his first MP11:45 AM GMTLabour: Tory Party is ‘too extreme to be led’

Pat McFadden, Labour’s campaign coordinator, has reacted to Lee Anderson’s defection to Reform.

“While the Conservatives are falling apart, Labour is focussed on turning the page on 14 year of Tory failure,” Mr McFadden said.

“What does it say about Rishi Sunak’s judgement that he promoted Lee Anderson in the first place?

“The truth is that the Prime Minister is too weak to lead a party too extreme to be led, and if the Tories got another five years it would all just get worse.”

11:37 AM GMTHave your say: Has Lee Anderson made the right call?11:19 AM GMTTories: We regret he’s made this decision

A Conservative spokesman said: “Lee himself said he fully accepted that the Chief Whip had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances. We regret he’s made this decision.

“Voting for Reform can’t deliver anything apart from a Keir Starmer-led Labour Government that would take us back to square one – which means higher taxes, higher energy costs, no action on channel crossings, and uncontrolled immigration.”

11:05 AM GMT‘I would expect some more to follow’

On the prospect of further defections, Richard Tice added: “Let’s wait and see, but unless there’s an election called in the next few days, and if it is, Prime Minister, we’re ready, then I would expect some more to follow.”

11:04 AM GMTLee Anderson: It’s my objective to win, not ‘obliterate’ the Tories

Asked if he shared Reform’s objective of wanting to “obliterate” the Tories at the next general election, Lee Anderson responded: “It’s not an objective at the top of my agenda. My priority is winning Ashfield and places like Ashfield, places that I think have been let down by my old party.

“Boris said in 2019 that people in places like Ashfield had been lent the vote, my family, my friends voted Conservative for the very first time with high expectations. And the promises have not been delivered.

“You have to be with a party that puts this country first, rather than their mates at the tea parties, clinking their champagne glasses, scared to upset people.”

Asked who had control of the country at the moment and how he intended to “get it back”, Mr Anderson said: “When I see hundreds of people, an angry baying mob, flashing graphics onto Big Ben, Elizabeth Tower, which says ‘from the river to the sea’, we have not got control of our streets. This is a murderous, vile, sort of wicked thing that we see on our streets. And the police have not got control.”

Mr Tice said “you could trust the police, you could trust the Government and you could trust the Post Office… trust in all three of those entities and institutions has now completely collapsed”.

11:00 AM GMTLee Anderson: We’re not doing enough to counter extremism

Richard Tice said “all extremism and all hate is bad” when asked if he was as concerned about anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Semitism, before adding the biggest threats at the moment were to the Jewish community.

Lee Anderson added: “Words are all well and good, I agree with pretty much everything the PM had to say on the steps of Downing Street a few weeks back but we don’t want words anymore, we want action.

“We’re seeing MPs attacked, we’re seeing council meetings or political meetings ambushed… We’re not doing enough. I don’t feel safe, sometimes on a Wednesday night I have to use a different exit.”

10:58 AM GMT‘Vote Tory, get Starmer’

Asked if he had just helped Keir Starmer win the next election, Lee Anderson replied: “Somebody has to make a stand.

“I said it last week, there’s 650 MPs in that country over there. If not one of them can speak up for this country, what’s the point in being there?”

Richard Tice interjected: “I’ve got a very simple message. Vote Tory, get Starmer, vote Reform, get Reform.”

10:56 AM GMTTice: Millions endorse Anderson’s Sadiq Khan comments

Richard Tice said “millions of people endorse the sentiments” of Lee Anderson’s criticisms of Sadiq Khan.

Asked what had changed since he described Mr Tice as a “poundshop Nigel Farage” in January, Mr Anderson told The Sun’s Harry Cole: “Also on that point, Harry, someone described you as a poundshop Glen Owen.”

Challenged on how long he planned to remain in Reform, Mr Anderson said: “My political beliefs have never changed at all. I think politics is quite simple, you listen to what people have to say then you go to that place and you carry it out. And it’s that simple and we’re not doing that.

“I think this party will allow me not just to speak on behalf of my constituents, who are furious, but millions of people… We are giving this country away and it’s got to stop.”

Mr Tice said: “I would be surprised if there were not other MPs from other parties who don’t join Reform before the general election. I could be wrong if it’s called a week on Friday but otherwise I’d be surprised.”

10:53 AM GMTAnderson refuses to trigger by-election

Lee Anderson refused to resign to trigger a by-election when asked about Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell doing the same when they quit the Tories for Ukip.

“It’d be pretty reckless of me to suggest a by-election when we could have a general election in May,” Mr Anderson said. “It costs a fortune!”

Richard Tice added: “Millions of people are sick of parliamentarians wasting taxpayers’ cash. We’ve got a general election within weeks or months. We’ve got to focus on getting the message out to the British people.”

10:52 AM GMTAnderson and Tice pictured together for the first time

Lee Anderson and Richard Tice

10:51 AM GMT‘Country, constituency, and then party’

Pressed by Sky News on whether he was “attention-seeking” and being “disloyal” to Rishi Sunak after the Prime Minister made him deputy Tory chairman, Lee Anderson replied: “Country, constituency, and then party. Next question.”

He refused to take further questions from Sky’s Beth Rigby, who protested “he hasn’t answered my question”.

Mr Anderson answered a separate query: “When my friends and my family and my staff are telling me to join the Reform party, then I have to listen. My country comes first, then my constituency, then my party.”

10:49 AM GMT‘A massive, massive wake-up call’

Asked how voters could trust him and what had changed since his claims in January Reform was “not the answer”, Lee Anderson replied: “One big thing changed last week and that was [George] Galloway coming into Parliament, and we have to fight back against that as a country, and the only party that’s offering that fightback which I can see is Reform UK.

“This is a big problem, it’s worrying my constituents and constituents up and down the country… We have to fight back and unfortunately the Conservative and the Labour Party won’t fight back.”

Richard Tice added he was “proved right” about Britain entering a recession.

“That’s what’s changed, it’s a massive, massive wake-up call.”

10:46 AM GMTAnderson: I won’t apologise to Sadiq Khan

On his comments about Sadiq Khan, Lee Anderson insisted “I will not apologise” and said he had been “talking to my friends in Reform for a while”.

“People will say that I’ve took a gamble and I’m prepared to gamble on myself as I know from my mailbag how many people in this country support Reform UK and what they have to say. And like millions of people up and down the country, all I want is my country back.

“Now this may sound offensive to the liberal elite but it’s not offensive to my friends, my family, my constituents and some of my donors. Constituents like my mum and dad who told me they could not vote for me unless I joined Reform UK. Both of my parents are nearly 80 and they get it. And I must not let them down. As I said at the beginning, I want my country back.”

10:44 AM GMTLee Anderson: I want my country back

Lee Anderson told reporters: “I want my country back. Over the last year or so I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching on my political journey and I don’t expect much in politics other than to be able to speak my mind and speak on behalf of my friends, family and my constituents.

“Now I might not know a lot of these long words some of these people in Parliament, I know a few short ones, but sometimes this leaves me to be controversial, controversial in my opinions. But my opinions are not controversial, they are opinions that are shared by millions of people up and down the country.

“It’s not controversial to be concerned about illegal immigration. It’s not controversial to be concerned about legal migration. It’s not controversial to be worried, concerned, about the Metropolitan Police and a failing London Mayor and the hate marches and the street crime and the shoplifters literally getting away with ruining businesses on a daily basis.

“It’s not controversial to fight back in a culture war, a culture war that is sweeping our nation. I am proud of our great country and the gifts it has given to the world over hundreds of years, gifts like the Industrial Revolution, railways, culture, sports, medicine such as medicines which have saved hundreds of millions of lives, and we defeated fascism in two world wars.

“We have always punched above our weight on the international stage but now like millions of people of people in this country I feel that we are slowly giving our country away. We are giving away our way of life, we are allowing people to erase our history, we have given up our streets to a minority of people who literally hate our way of life. We are allowing people into our country that will never integrate and adopt our British values.”

10:40 AM GMTBreaking: Lee Anderson becomes Reform’s first MP

Richard Tice has unveiled Lee Anderson as Reform’s first MP.

“In the Red Wall this election we want to replace the Tories as the main alternative to ‘Starmergeddon’, that’s what it is, a nightmare, coming to everyone near you in 2024. So we’re going to replace the Tories in the Red Wall.

“Which we means we need a champion, of course, of the Red Wall, someone who completely understands it, who is trusted by voters to tell it as it is, no nonsense, no waffle, clear, basic, common sense. And I’m delighted to announce that I have found that champion of the Red Wall for Reform UK. He’s also coincidentally going to be Reform UK’s first Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.

“He is of course a person of great integrity, no nonsense, and is the Member of Parliament in the county of Nottinghamshire for Ashfield. Please welcome Lee Anderson.”

10:37 AM GMTA buzz in the room at Reform’s press conference

There is a definite buzz in the air at Reform’s press conference in central London, where we are expecting to hear that a certain “Red Wall Rottweiler” is defecting to the party, writes my colleague Amy Gibbons.

Lee Anderson is not in the room, but a huddle of photographers are ready to pounce on the door at any moment.

Speeches are now underway, with Reform leader Richard Tice centre stage.

10:37 AM GMTRichard Tice: The Westminster establishment has never been more out-of-touch

Richard Tice has taken to the stage at the Reform UK press conference.

“People are getting poorer, that recession almost two years per person. If that’s their plan, well it’s not the plan of the British people to get poorer,” Mr Tice said in the wake of the Budget.

“Something significant has changed in recent months. I’ve noticed people’s concerns and anxiety has turned to anger and fury. Because nothing works, Britain is broken, and we all know who broke it. There are so many areas where it’s broken.”

He added: “They’ve imposed on us mass immigration that we can see from the data is making us poorer, no question whatsoever. People also separately are appalled at what’s going on in our streets, our towns and our cities with these anti-Semitic, hate-filled pro-Hamas marches that is leading to genuine fear. The Jewish community in London, afraid to go out at the weekend…

“What a shocking indicment of the performance of the boss of the Met Police, of the person in charge of security in London, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, of the Home Secretary and of the Prime Minister, that the Jewish community are terrified. Absolutely appalling.

“Separately, people are horrified that this gender ideology is infecting our schools, poisoning the minds of our children… And also people are waking up to the absurd multi-trillion pound cost of this obsession with net zero. But any of us who want to talk about it, oh no, we’re a bigot! We must be smeared, we must be labelled, we’re -phobic in some way. No we’re not, we’re just talking common sense, the genuine concerns of tens of millions of people up and down the country. I think the Westminster establishment has never been more out-of-touch.”

10:33 AM GMT‘A significant day’ for Reform UK

Paul Oakden, the chief executive of Reform UK, said a “small group of us started a journey” four years ago “to do something that hadn’t been done for decades – to start a political movement that wasn’t based on a single policy, but was based on values and ideas”.

Mr Oakden hailed today as “a significant day” in the history of the party.

10:18 AM GMTHave your say on defence spending

In the wake of Tom Tugendhat’s comments this morning, have your say on whether the Prime Minister should raise defence spending below:

10:09 AM GMTReform press conference in 20 minutes

We will be bringing you all the latest on this live blog as Lee Anderson is expected to become Reform UK’s first MP.

10:03 AM GMT‘Rishi Sunak’s authority lies in tatters’

Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said there was “hardly a cigarette paper” between the Tories and Reform.

“Rishi Sunak’s authority lies in tatters after the man he personally appointed to be Deputy Chairman of the Conservatives has defected to another party. This is a Prime Minister that cannot govern his own party let alone the country,” Ms Cooper said.

“Even now Sunak is too weak to rule out Nigel Farage joining the Conservative Party. It just shows that there is now hardly a cigarette paper between the Conservative Party and Reform.”

09:55 AM GMTTory MPs in ‘disbelief’ over Anderson

Lee Anderson’s defection to Reform is already rattling Conservative cages this morning.

A senior Tory backbencher says: “Disbelief is the feeling amongst colleagues.”

09:54 AM GMTAnalysis: A massive moment for Reform UK

As Reform UK gathered for its spring conference in Doncaster last month, Richard Tice and co’s big day out in Doncaster was overshadowed by ‘red wall Rottweiler’ Lee Anderson losing the Tory whip.

Mr Anderson, a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party until January, has been sitting as an independent MP after he refused to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London.

It did not take long for Mr Tice to say that the MP for Ashfield spoke for millions of people, and the pair soon held secret talks about a potential defection at a Holiday Inn hotel at junction 28 of the M1 in Derbyshire.

Reform is currently riding high at around 10 per cent in the polls but has never had any representatives in the House of Commons since its inception three years ago. That changes today – and only adds to Rishi Sunak’s headache ahead of the general election this year.

09:39 AM GMTBreaking: Lee Anderson expected to defect from Conservatives to Reform UK

Lee Anderson is set to defect to Reform UK, my colleague Camilla Turner can exclusively reveal.

The former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party was suspended from the Tories over his refusal to apologise for his claims that Islamists had “got control” of Sadiq Khan and of London.

The defection, which will be a blow to Rishi Sunak, follows weeks of speculation about the Ashfield MP’s next moves.

Read the full story here

09:26 AM GMTTugendhat refuses to say if defence article was cleared by No10

Tom Tugendhat declined to confirm whether Downing Street cleared his LinkedIn article with Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a Foreign Office minister, calling for greater defence spending in the wake of the Budget.

When asked by Good Morning Britain host Ed Balls if No 10 signed off on his piece, Mr Tugendhat said: “Ed, did you have to clear everything through Labour? You probably did, actually, have to clear everything through Peter Mandelson, didn’t you?

“Probably how your Labour Party worked, where everything was so tightly controlled.”

Pressed by Mr Balls, Mr Tugendhat replied: “We trust ministers to argue Government policy and to make the context available to people so we understand why we’re spending all this money.

“This is public money that we need to keep spending because we’ve seen autocracies around the world challenging us in new and different ways.”

09:19 AM GMTThe ‘elephant in the room’ that risks exposing Britain’s net zero agenda

It’s one of the Government’s proudest boasts. Britain, it claims, has almost halved its greenhouse gas emissions from 800m tonnes in 1990 to just 417m tonnes in 2022, writes our Energy Editor Jonathan Leake.

It’s a staggering decrease – a faster decline than almost any other advanced nation. And it is a fact that is used regularly by politicians to trumpet the UK’s progress.

“We’re far ahead of every other country in the world,” Rishi Sunak said in September. “We’ve had the fastest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the G7. Down almost 50pc since 1990. France? 22pc. The US? No change at all. China? Up by over 300pc.”

But can a nation whose population has grown by several million in the past two decades, with each citizen consuming more than ever, really have cut emissions by such a massive amount?

Jonathan Leake: UK’s ‘hidden’ emissions fail to show the big picture

09:09 AM GMTRichard Tice to make ‘major announcement’ at 10.30am

This from the Reform UK Twitter feed:

09:06 AM GMTName extremist groups or your crackdown will fail, Gove told

Michael Gove has been warned he must name Islamist groups or his crackdown on extremism will not work.

The Communities Secretary has been told by senior Tories and a leading anti-Islamist campaigner that the Government would be seen as “weak” if it failed to “call out” the extremist groups trying to subvert democracy.

Mr Gove has come under pressure ahead of an announcement this week of a new official definition of extremism that will enable the Government and bodies such as universities and councils to ban funding for or engagement with Islamist and far-Right groups.

He is understood to want to publish the names of such groups but has been warned by officials that he will face legal challenges if he tries to do so. Alternatively, he could use Parliamentary privilege which grants legal immunity to MPs to protect their right to free speech.

Charles Hymas: Government warned it may be seen as ‘weak’

08:49 AM GMTLabour declines to say how it would now fund breakfast clubs

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, declined to say where the money for school breakfast clubs would come from after Jeremy Hunt abolished non-dom tax status in last week’s Budget.

Labour had previously planned to fund the breakfast clubs by ending tax breaks for non-doms.

In an interview with LBC, Ms Phillipson said Rachel Reeves would look at “additional changes” to the party’s plans in the wake of the Budget.

“Every commitment that we set out in our manifesto will be fully-costed and fully-funded.”

08:43 AM GMTTugendhat on ‘mob rule’ comments: We all speak in our own way

Tom Tugendhat declined to echo Rishi Sunak in referring to the risk of “mob rule” in the UK, adding “we all speak in our own way and about various different issues”.

Mr Tugendhat told BBC Breakfast: “I wasn’t talking about that, I was talking about the challenge within the Muslim community, and the point I made on Friday was that I have many Muslim parents who have approached me in recent months pointing out quite correctly, very sadly that it isn’t my children who are likely to be lured down the path to extremism by Islamists, it’s theirs.

“Today on the first day of Ramadan of all days, this is a day when many, many Muslims across the United Kingdom are going to be celebrating the holy month and they have a place right here in the United Kingdom and we need to make sure they are protected from those extremists who would try to tell them that they don’t belong or that they have no place here. It’s completely untrue. They absolutely do.”

08:36 AM GMTMet Police accused of ‘emboldening’ the mob

A former Cabinet minister has accused the Metropolitan Police of “emboldening” the mob after a counter-protester carrying a sign saying “Hamas is terrorist” at a pro-Palestine rally was arrested.

Niyak Ghorbani, 38,  was pulled to the ground and handcuffed by officers after an incident close to the march through central London on Saturday.

He was arrested over an allegation of assault but was later de-arrested after officers reviewed footage of the incident.

The Met is now facing calls to take action against a protester who Mr Ghorbani, an Iranian who lives in Balham, says assaulted him.

Neil Johnston and Charles Hymas have the story

08:30 AM GMTGovernment has ‘never had the spine’ to take on Islamists or far-Right

Fiyaz Mughal, who was said to have been chosen as Michael Gove’s tsar to counter anti-Muslim hatred, has quit the role before it even started as he accused the Government of leaking his name.

In a series of interviews overnight, Mr Mughal questioned the “veracity” of how seriously it is taking the issue.

The campaigner against extremism told The Telegraph he withdrew his application at the weekend amid a torrent of abuse and threats on social media from Islamists and the far-Right.

Speaking to my colleague Charles Hymas, he said: “These groups have gone under the radar because Government has never had the spine to take them on. We need to call them out to let the public see them and know them for what they are.

“They are a threat to our country. Yet, police and other organisations have been engaging with some of these Islamist groups to provide training.”

He also told The Times there are people in Whitehall who are sympathetic towards Islamists, adding: “They have civil servants who have sympathies to these groups.”

08:26 AM GMTCharles Moore: I’d quit The Telegraph if UAE-backed sale went ahead

Baron Moore, a former editor of The Telegraph, said he would likely quit his role as a columnist at the newspaper if a UAE-backed takeover of this newspaper went ahead.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It wouldn’t be a problem if it was owned by someone connected to the UAE. It would be a problem if it’s owned by what is in effect, the government of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. The problem is not foreignness, it’s a foreign state owning a national newspaper.

“I don’t think there’s any country in the world in which a foreign state is allowed to own a national newspaper. And as soon as you have a government owning a national newspaper, it’s bound to lose independence and can’t be trusted anymore. And that seems to me to be, I think any journalist would recognise that as a red line.”

The Tory peer said the UK Government could not conceivably own The Daily Telegraph, adding: “Why would it be allowable that it should be owned by a foreign power?”

And asked if he would continue writing his Telegraph column if the RedBird sale went ahead, Baron Moore replied: “Oh no, I don’t think so.”

08:24 AM GMTLabour comes out against a UAE-backed takeover of The Telegraph

Labour has come out against a UAE-backed takeover of The Telegraph, writes Ben Riley-Smith.

Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Culture Secretary, told The Spectator that the view of the party “is that foreign governments should not own national newspapers. This is a bid by a foreign power, funded by the deputy prime minister of the UAE, and as such this bid should not pass.”

It comes as the Government is understood to be considering an overhaul of Britain’s media ownership laws to restrict foreign state influence.

RedBird IMI, a fund 75 per cent financed by the UAE, is trying to gain control of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator magazine.

You can read the full story here

08:11 AM GMTTom Tugendhat: No religion has the right not to be offended

No religion has the right not to be offended, the security minister has said ahead of a planned crackdown on extremism.

In an interview with GB News, Tom Tugendhat said: “There is absolutely no right for any religion to be offended, if we accepted that then we’d still be Catholic.

“Every religion has the right to be challenged and there is no religion that has the right to be immune from that for any reason at all.”

Asked about the case of a teacher at Batley Grammar School who was forced to flee his home after showing pupils a drawing taken from French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Mr Tugendhat replied: “I’m not going to comment on individual cases, but you wouldn’t expect me to. There is no right at all, in any religion, not to be offended.

“Anybody can challenge any article of any faith, it is absolutely fundamental, and there is no right to be immune from that. You know very well because it’s the fundamental tenet of your job as a journalist to have freedom of speech.”

08:08 AM GMTGood morning

Dominic Penna here, The Telegraph’s Political Correspondent, guiding you through what is likely to be a busy day in Westminster.

Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, has urged Rishi Sunak to raise defence spending “now, as soon as possible” to 2.5 per cent.

“What we’ve got to do is we’ve got to achieve the 2.5 per cent as soon as possible, that’s exactly what we need to do,” Mr Tugendhat told Sky News.

We must see that increase in defence and that’s exactly why we need to have the boost in growth that Jeremy set out but why we need the economic prosperity that is underpinned by security.”

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