Reform UK Banks almost £28,000 as 750 new members join in wake of Lee Anderson arrival

Parliamentary Sketch Writer at the Daily Mail, Quentin Letts, and Co-founder of Novara Media, Aaron Bastani, debate the defection of Lee Anderson to Reform UK from the Conservative party.

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Uh you know the drill on this program it’s not just about us three it’s about you guys at home as well you can get in touch with me all the usual ways GB views at GB news.com or you can tweet or X me at GB news what do I always say

There’s never a dull moment in British politics at the moment is it it certainly Keeps Us lot in a job doesn’t it uh and did you see the story today Lee Anderson has defected of course to reform UK who saw that coming uh anyone out there I ask sarcastically anyway

Let’s have listen to what he had to say when did you decide to join the Reform Party you did say didn’t he back on the 2nd of January I think on GB news that reform was not the party for you is opening your door to kiss armor well

Things have changed things have moved on Chopper since then we saw the we saw last week George gallway entering Parliament which frightens me to death and a lot of mainstream people across the country that’s scary he’s mobilizing the rest of parliament seem to be sleep walking into disaster not prepared to

Stand up and fight fight back against this threat so you know the Reform Party offering sound economic policies as well as sticking up for this great country of ours you know and I’ve said time and time again Chopper all I want is my country bike I want to be able to be

Feel safe and my family and friends feel safe walking the streets I want these demonstrations on our Streets of London stop these idiots that are out you know these yobbos that are shouting murderous you know things on on the streets these need to be locked up it’s all well and

Good you know sparting out strong words from the steps of ding Street and in in the chamber but people want action they want want to see action they want to see this stop they want they want our country back do you want your country back get in touch and let me know I’m

Running um an X or Twitter poll whatever you want to call it on there let me know whether you think Le Anderson was right to make that mood to reform or not quent and Les what do you say to all of that I think this was uh really about uh Mr

Anderson trying to save his seat and I suspect he’s looked at the opinion poll vings which are uh suggests that Labor’s well ahead in his seat and he may be able to get a few voters from labor he may be the real really interesting thing

About a move like this is will he be able to ignite will he be able to pull in people who otherwise weren’t going to vote I think that might be a lot of it so I think it’s really a lot of it will be to do about uh Lee Anderson himself

Thinking about his own Prospect but you have to say how stupid the conservative party whips were to effectively try to discipline him and and basically force him out what a hamfisted operation that was and also listening to that speech that um Mr Anderson gave today uh it was

Actually a bit like listening to rushy SU on the steps of Downing Street there’s very little between what he said today and what sunak said was it two weeks ago so I think this mainly it’s to do with his personal electoral fortunes and him thinking I’m more likely to hold

The seat if I fight it for reform rather than for the conservatives where are you on it Aaron Ashfield is a fascinating constituency because you have the Ashfield Independence and they had a parliamentary candidate called Jason zad rosni sorry Jason if I’ve mispronounced that and they came second

In 2019 they got 27% of the vote they’ve got 32 out of 35 counselors I think on the district council so it could be a four-way seat at the next election you could have the conservatives even finish fourth um I would put a punt on the Ashfield Independence

Winning um but who knows I think you’re absolutely right that the calculus here is that he’s just trying to basically keep his political skin I don’t think it’ll be enough do you think um if if an MP it’s not just about Le Anderson this is a more General point do you think if

Any MP essentially defects a different party they should that should automatically trigger a by elction I think if they’re a decent and honorable person they they should feel like that’s the right thing to do how you compel them to do that I don’t know um I certainly think it should be the case

But look we I I’ve just used the word decent and honorable that’s not something we apply to many politicians these days yeah but the trouble with that uh is first of all it’s not in it’s not the way that our system set up we elect the the person rather than the

Party I don’t want to make the parties any more um powerful in this one of the problems with our politics is that the party whips and the party leaders have too much power and if you want to encourage independent thinking within the parties I don’t think that’s a very

Good move so and also so close to a general election it’s nuts yeah but you say that people vote for the uh person not the party well no that that’s the idea I think actually in truth I was going to say the reality is I mean there’s certain seats where you could

Put for example I don’t know a tin of baked beans on the um ballot paper with a let’s just say a labor as certainly where I live those kind of places and those people would just get elected because it’s the party so the par is play massive role in this as speak of

Part is Richard Ty uh he’s full of optimism about the success or potential success of his party listen Lee’s going to be our champion of the red wall this is going to boost Us in the polls rapidly and here’s my prediction by the summer we’re going to close that Gap

With the Tories we’re now about 5 or 6% behind on a couple of polls that could close to almost zero if we keep making the progress we’re making tell you what has been boosted everyone the coffers um of Reform UK get this 700 50 uh new members apparently have joined reform uh

Today alone giving that uh tasty bank account nearly £30,000 not bad uh yeah well it’s it’s it’s it’s big money to us too but it’s it’s not very much in terms of party political spending I’m afraid yeah but it it certainly shows though because I mean these are from million for General

Yeah but these are from individuals and parting with nearly 40 quid as an individual in these kind of Economic Times you know that’s not an easy decision for a lot of people to make so for nearly a thousand of them nearly a thousand people um on those maths who

Have made that decision it shows that he’s galvanizing people already Lee potentially if they weren’t contesting upwards of 600 seats if they were contesting a dozen seats that approach would work but as you say for a national general election campaign to contest every single seat it’s going to

Cost you massive amounts of money and the big problem for reform is that they don’t have an infrastructure they don’t have people they were banging on about the postal vote in Rochdale but for a good reason because huge numbers of Voters now get out very early and you

Can have a wonderful campaign a charismatic candidate brilliant air war on the TV on the radio it doesn’t matter because enough people have gotten a particular party generally one of the big two over the line and I think Nigel farage said this before I think he has

Said that ukit would have won I think about eight seats at one point or another byelections or general elections had it not been for postal voting so reform without that infrastructure without that ground campaign without that money they can p 25% in in National polling they will still struggle to win

Seats see I think there’s a massive divide right because um a couple of Sundays ago I was in the pub um in Hull and it’s quite a like a working man’s Pub and I was talking to some ex- fishermen there and the sentiment was all the same they love Lee Anderson they

Would love him to essentially be the next prime minister but then if you also ask those people you know you’re going to vote at the next election so many people will say no actually I’m not going to vote so you can a Anderson as Fabulous As is but it’s how do you

Convert those people to get out and vote well Lee Anderson is only one constituency isn’t he indeed uh so there’s still another 649 uh and um the uh I was I was at yesterday at at a rugby match the Wales rugby match uh with some blos and I’d

Say most of them were probably likely to support reform but I mean the trouble would they turn out and vote because it’s all when I these guys probably would but uh there is the argument that you’ll take some people off the labor party and also as I said earlier you get

Out people who don’t normally vote but um can that translate into anything all it really does I think is it will divide the right-wing vote and the Really the people who are going to benefit from this most labor party I was watching um the press conference today I was

Watching on a couple of different screens actually one uh here on GB news and then on the other one don’t tell my boss but I decided to peek and see what Sky News were up to uh and how they were covering it and it really stopped me in

My track so much so that I reamed it uh and listen to it again listen to the opening uh intro on this press conference are seeing pictures from the preparations for a press conference from the Reform Party of Great Britain there the Union Jack being rather a giveaway

As to what they think about things see I’ve got to say well well that me all the parties have the Union Jack it stopped me in my tracks right because the way I interpreted that what they’re essentially saying this is my interpretation it’s like your suggest ing somehow that if you have the

Audacity to have what they then called the Union Jack Union Flag whatever you want to call it if you somehow have the audacity to stand in front of our national flag with pride that somehow that has some kind of racist xenophobic uh connotations to it and I absolutely

Reject that what we need to bring back is some national pride we need to bring back that kind of whole kind of patriotic um sense of unity and I think it’s there I don’t think I don’t think it’s gone away Mich actually but I was

Watching it dare I say this on on the BBC and but they were referring to to uh reform as the populist party I’ve never heard a party described as the populist Party by the BBC uh before like that it had a sneering quality I mean you just

Just call it reform UK and they they’ve got policies or they haven’t got policies let the viewers decide but calling it The populist party had a bit of a curling lip to it I thought you see but I think this whole kind of uh Union

Jack Union Flag point is such a key one because there is so much robbery Aaron in this country it almost looks down I feel this my interpretation it looks down on like the working class uh what I would just call like you’re every man they are concerned about things they’re

Proud of their nation and it that is dividing people it’s a funny one because I you know I’ve seen I think I’ve seen labor and Tory conferences in the last two years do precisely the same thing it is a really strange one I mean I suppose

A charitable reading of what he said is that they care about Britain and British interests and that’s why the British flags there and being charitable I think Mr sniffy of Sky wasn’t it I think that’s more likely Sky News are very very sniffy it’s just yeah really it

Stop me in my not a lot in this day doing this job not a lot actually does stop me in my tracks these days I can tell you um who’s this Alaska says uh Reform Party just lost my votes by letting Lee Anderson join why I want to

Know why if you’re in that camp um I want to know why Brian you’re an interesting fellow he lives in Ashfield he lives in Ashfield he voted conservative for Lee Anderson now he thinks that we should have a by elction there you go I found that interesting

Anyone else in Ashfield what do you make about Lee uh defecting to reform Greg says is an honorable man um I’m a conservative but I still support him fully um Ken says your guests are totally wrong um if Lee just wanted to make sure he got uh reelected he would

Have SP stayed in the political Spectrum he could have simply apologized and sted in the fold he’s a man of great principle not many of them left what do you think to that I I don’t think that’s right because if you look at the opinion polls I think he looked at the opinion

Polls which put labor on I think 46 or something like that and the conservatives are much much less and he I should think Lee Anderson thinks I can get some of those labor voters and I suspect he thinks I can get quite a lot

Of the Tories and I can get some of the the people who don’t want to vote at the moment so I I think it will have been a major part of his consideration Ian I don’t mean to to to be down on reform running but I just think that that must

Be a part of any politician’s consideration their personal fortunes that’s there nothing wrong with that that’s the way it works I can tell you now there’s such divided um opinions out there I can really tell you now uh John says yes with lots of s and capital

Letters uh about time he celebrates uh that switch Wesley in Georgia USA hello there he says I don’t live in the UK but not withstanding that I think leanderson did make uh the right choice and defecting and I wish him the very very best uh Andy there says sorry Allan says

Le Anderson is a loudmouth non- entity I’ve got no respect for his views or anything like that he should stand now and force a byelection he says does he work for Sky News up yeah that you you it could be in her comments I think was the answer from that anyway your

Thoughts GB viws at GB news.com