'Want my country back!' Lee Anderson joins Reform UK... and as many as NINE other Tory MPs could follow

It comes as several polls have placed Reform UK in third place behind Labour and the Conservatives.

Sources close to Reform UK told GB News that as many as nine Conservative MPs are now in advanced talks to join the party.

The party scored double-digit vote shares in both the Wellingborough and Kingswood by elections, finishing third place in both.

Speaking at the press conference today, Lee Anderson said: "I’ll start by saying I want my country back.

"Over the last year or so I have done a lot of soul searching on my political journey. I don’t expect much in politics other than to be able to speak my mind and to be able to speak on behalf of my friends and family and some of my constituents.

"My opinions are not controversial, these are opinions shared by millions up and down the country.

"It is no secret that I’ve been talking to my friends in Reform for a while. And Reform UK has offered me the chance to speak out in Parliament on behalf of millions of people up and down the country who feel that they’re not being listened to.

“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.”

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Introducing Anderson, Tice said: "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’s 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."

He added: "What a shocking indictment 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."

He also criticised "gender ideology" and "the absurd multi-trillion pound cost of this obsession with net zero."

Tice added: "But any of us who want to talk about this, oh no. We’re a bigot… we’re labelled, we’re phobic in some way.

"No we’re not. We’re just talking common sense."

At the conference, GB News asked Anderson: "Lee, on January 2nd you said Reform is not the answer, it leaves the door open for Sir Kier Starmer what has changed in ten weeks and how can voters trust you at the election when you have so publicly betrayed the Tories? "

Anderson responded saying: "A big thing changed last week and that was the election of Mr Galloway coming into Parliament. We have to fight back as a country and the only the only party offering that fightback is Reform UK."

Asked whether the Tories broke Britain, the 57-year-old told the conference: "It’s not just the Tory Party, it’s the Labour Party’s, it’s Parliament. The whole democratic system in this country is rigged. It doesn’t represent really what people are saying. I live in the real world, that’s a place called Ashfield."

Anderson said his "conscience is clear" when asked whether his defection to Reform UK would help Labour at the general election. He said: "Somebody has to make a stand I have to live with my conscience."

Tice added: "Vote Tory get Starmer, vote Reform get Reform."

A Conservative spokesperson 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."