Sunak rejects death penalty after Lee Anderson speaks out

Rishi Sunak has publicly opposed the death penalty to distance himself from comments by his new deputy party chairman.

Lee Anderson backed capital punishment because of its “100 per cent success rate” in preventing reoffending, the latest in a series of provocative comments.

But Sunak said on a visit to Cornwall: “That’s not my view, that’s not the government’s view.” The prime minister said that instead of bringing back hanging the Tories had “tightened up sentencing laws for the most violent criminals; they spend longer in prison”.

He said: “We are united in the Conservative Party in wanting to be absolutely relentless in bearing down on crime and making sure people are safe and feel safe”.

Rishi Sunak joins playtime with Brody, two, at a family hub in St Austell, Cornwall

BEN STANSTALL

Sunk was joined by his wife, Akshata Murty

BEN STANSTALL

Claire Coutinho, the children’s minister, also disagreed with Anderson, despite being a “big fan” and believing he was “a very good thing” for the Conservatives.

“I don’t agree with Lee all the time. I don’t back the return of the death penalty, for example, but I do support Lee,” she told LBC. “What I think people respond to when it comes to Lee is he does speak his mind. And I think it’s really important that we have people who have lots of different opinions. And that’s one of the things I like about the Conservative Party frankly, because we are very good at living alongside each other even when we disagree.”

The former coalminer and Labour Party employee was appointed in Tuesday’s reshuffle as a counterweight to Greg Hands, the Remain-backing west London MP who is party chairman.

While the appointment of the Ashfield MP has been welcomed by many red wall MPs, other Conservatives are concerned by a history of remarks which include criticising the financial planning of nurses using food banks, boycotting Euro 2020 because of England players’ decision to take the knee and suggesting that nuisance council tenants be made to live in tents and pick potatoes.

Anderson insisted he has the experience from his own life to criticise people on benefits while wealthy southern Tories were “too scared”, arguing that comments deemed outrageous in Westminster were common sense in his red wall constituency.

In an interview with The Spectator before his appointment, Anderson argued that he was “speaking from a position of strength” when he criticised food bank users or benefits claimants.

“I can say it because I was a single parent for 17 years with two boys. I struggled. I know what it’s like to put your last fiver in the gas meter. I know what it’s like to have to sell your car because you can’t afford to run it — so I’ll take no lectures from anybody about being hard up and struggling for survival,” Anderson said.

Sunak’s press secretary said the prime minister and his new deputy party chairman “get on very well” and Anderson hit back at criticism, saying: “The more my critics criticise me, the more I know I am doing and saying the right things. If they ever stop criticising me that’s the time to worry.”

Lee Anderson’s appointment was welcomed by many red wall MPs but other Conservatives are concerned by his provocative remarks

ANDREW MCCAREN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES

He added that traditional wealthy Conservatives shied away from voicing concerns about how much people on benefits can take home “because it’s like picking on poor people, isn’t it? When, actually, most working-class people would agree with me.

“If I say something that is supposedly outrageous in [Westminster], I get back to Ashfield . . . people will come out the shops and say, ‘You say what I’m thinking’ .’’

In the interview, Anderson floated arresting policy suggestions including putting migrants arriving on small boats “on a Royal Navy frigate” to stop crossings.

He also backed the return of the death penalty, saying: “Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. You know that, don’t you? 100 per cent success rate.”

He dismissed the argument that courts can never be certain of guilt, saying: “You can prove it if they have videoed it and are on camera – like the Lee Rigby killers [who stabbed a British Army soldier to death in the street in southeast London in 2013]. I mean: they should have gone, same week. I don’t want to pay for these people.”

Anderson is planning to tour the country “to spread the word from the red wall”. Even before his appointment he was already “booked up for Christmas” with Conservative associations wanting him to visit. “The membership like that red-to-blue story, that working-class Tory story. It’s the [party] membership that’s asking me to go,” he said.

The prime minister’s press secretary said: “Lee Anderson is a very hardworking MP. He’s an excellent campaigner. He’s very popular, particularly in his constituency, and he will do a fantastic job.”

She added: “It will be a fairly wide-ranging role as deputy. I think a lot of his focus for the next few weeks or months will be on the local elections.”