‘30p Lee’ has become electoral catnip – and politically untameable

In refusing to apologise today for his anti-Muslim rant about Sadiq Khan, which saw him suspended from the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson shows little sign of wanting to be cowed – and no desire at all to be a fading prime minister’s poodle, says Joe Murphy

Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson was stripped of the Conservative whip after declaring that London mayor Sadiq Khan is 'controlled by Islamists' (AFP/Getty)

As an unrepentant Lee Anderson was doubling down on his “Islamophobic” attacks on Sadiq Khan, the WhatsApp group for the 2019 intake of Conservative MPs was going wild.

Not with alarm that “30p Lee” – a one-time coal miner and Labour councillor known for explosively provocative comments – had finally gone too far.

But with Red Wall MPs worrying that a rattled Rishi Sunak might throw out a figure that they see as the party’s most authentic link with the working-class voters of the Midlands and northern region that, four years ago, backed the Tories for the first – and perhaps last – time.