Met Police ‘assessing’ hate speech report against Lee Anderson

SCOTLAND Yard are tonight "assessing" a report of hate speech made against former Tory MP Lee Anderson.

An unknown complainant went to the Metropolitan Police a day after the Ashfield MP said London Mayor Sadiq Khan was controlled by “Islamists”.

The ex-deputy party chairman was stripped of the whip after refusing to apologise for his remarks.

His comments sparked widespread condemnation from across the political divide including from several senior Tories.

After Scotland Yard completes their assessment, they could either escalate the case and launch a full investigation or dismiss it due to lack of substantial evidence.

Despite Cabinet Minister Mark Harper suggesting he could rejoin the party provided he issued an apology, Mr Anderson has refused to back down.

He told ITV News on Tuesday he stuck by the “sentiment of his comments” about Mr Khan, but repeated his concession that they were “a little bit clumsy”.

He also claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a “mistake” in stripping him of the Conservative whip.

Mr Anderson is now sitting as an independent unless he defects to another party that chooses to offer him its backing.

He has not ruled out standing for Reform UK, previously known as the Brexit Party, at the next election.

But at Prime Minister's Questions today, he sat on the Tory benches and was seen cheering on the PM.