{"id":4340,"date":"2026-09-02T09:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/tory-mps-were-snobby-about-how-i-speak\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:11:46","slug":"tory-mps-were-snobby-about-how-i-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/tory-mps-were-snobby-about-how-i-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"Tory MPs Were Snobby About How I Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n <\/p><\/div>\n

Lee Anderson (Photography by Tom Pilston)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Adam <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n 12 min read<\/span>01 September<\/span>
\n \n <\/p>\n

\n

Reform\u2019s party chairman Lee Anderson tells Adam Payne that Andy Burnham is no working-class hero \u2013 and insists it is his insurgent party on the right that is still setting the political agenda<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Lee Anderson wants to climb a hill, the highest point in Nottinghamshire. It\u2019s not a natural hill but the slag heap for the Silverhill Colliery.<\/p>\n

This was where his father and grandfather worked as coal miners. Anderson followed them into the pits after school. He had come here a few weeks previously to scatter the ashes of an \u201cold miner mate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taking a seat next to the old colliery wheels, restored and reinstated, it\u2019s a fitting setting to explore how Reform will adapt now Andy Burnham has launched his campaign to win back working-class support for Labour.<\/p>\n

Anderson admits that Burnham poses a \u201cdifferent\u201d electoral challenge to Reform compared with Keir Starmer, describing the former Manchester mayor as a \u201cgood communicator\u201d (although stresses that Burnham\u2019s predecessor Starmer set an \u201cawful, dreadful\u201d bar).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bounce is not a Burnham bounce,\u201d he insists. \u201cIt\u2019s a get-rid-of-Starmer bounce, the most unpopular prime minister ever, \u2018we\u2019re fed up\u2019. Of course, a few of them Labour voters who came to us over the past two years at local elections might say they could consider voting Labour now they\u2019ve got a new leader. But come and ask me in six months about those same voters. Will they vote Labour? I\u2019ll give you the answer now, and it\u2019s no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham is Anderson\u2019s fifth PM since he was first elected in 2019. A former Labour councillor, his defection to the Tories in 2018 and subsequent victory in Ashfield at the general election was cited at the time as evidence of a great realignment. Labour\u2019s electoral coalition was breaking down, it was said, as the interests and concerns of its constituent parts diverged.<\/p>\n

His subsequent defection to Reform UK meanwhile sounded, for the commentariat, the death knell of Boris Johnson\u2019s realignment and the emergence of Reform as the dominant force on the right.<\/p>\n

Now as Reform slips behind Labour, and the Tories threaten to draw level in the polls, does Anderson think the wheels are coming off the bandwagon?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny that people in your industry forget the previous 365 polls, which put us in front. That\u2019s all they\u2019re talking about. What about the last two years?\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not complacent. We know we\u2019ve got a job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making a huge difference in policy. Not just the Labour Party, but the Tory Party as well,\u201d Anderson continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the policies that the Tories and the Labour government have spoken about, they wouldn\u2019t have been speaking about them if it weren\u2019t for Reform UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson highlights the party\u2019s controversial stance on the European Commission of Human Rights (ECHR) as an example. \u201cWe\u2019re leading on leaving the ECHR. The Tories I know still in Parliament don\u2019t want to leave the ECHR. They\u2019re all a bunch of wet liberals. Labour\u2019s talking tough on immigration now. That\u2019s because of us. It\u2019s not because of Labour\u2019s spads or policy team or the backbenchers; it\u2019s because of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s only seven of us. I suppose I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s got a slight accent<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After leaving the mines, Anderson worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau, \u201cseeing people in real poverty, helping them\u201d, before moving into charity work. \u201cWhen I was working on minimum wage for a local homeless charity, I didn\u2019t blame the government or go online and say \u2018this is crap\u2019. I went and got another job. In fact, I had three jobs, at three different charities,\u201d he says, working with \u201cyoung kids, care leavers\u2026 looking after them, making sure they\u2019re okay\u201d.<\/p>\n

He believes left-wing opponents save their most vehement dislike for him because of this background: \u201cA lot of it\u2019s jealousy because I\u2019ve come through the working-class route.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson claims that the level of abuse he receives on X from \u201cleft-wing agitators\u201d, as well as bots and people \u201cwho haven\u2019t got the guts to put the name or a picture to a profile\u201d, has driven him close to quitting Elon Musk\u2019s \u201csewer\u201d website, where he is an active user. \u201cI can guarantee, if I wake up in the middle of the night, at 2 o\u2019clock, and go to the toilet, and if I\u2019m daft enough to go on X, which I am sometimes, and I post something, I can guarantee within 30 seconds, the same people will respond with a negative. They\u2019re literally up all night looking to say something,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

So, why hasn\u2019t he quit X? \u201cI thought about packing it in,\u201d he explains, \u201cbut it makes me about \u00a3400 a month, and it\u2019s paying for my next holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lee
Lee Anderson (Photography by Tom Pilston)<\/figcaption>
\n<\/figure>\n

The House puts to Anderson that there is a back-handed compliment in the Labour Party choosing to be led by someone who, like him, is proudly working class. The Reform MP bridles at the comparison with Burnham.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tries to promote himself as this sort of working-class hero. But what\u2019s his work history? Straight out of uni, working in politics, and fair play to him. He has made a good career out of it. He\u2019s done what he\u2019s wanted to do. He\u2019s a good communicator.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut has he ever been 1,000 metres under, on his hands and knees, doing a rotten job seven days a week, talking to real men about not just work, about politics, about the family, about the problems we\u2019ve got? No, he hasn\u2019t. I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

He dismisses No 10 North as \u201ccompletely ridiculous\u201d, saying the UK government should work from nowhere but Downing Street: \u201cIf they can\u2019t do that, then they shouldn\u2019t be running the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

But given Reform claims to be the real home of the forgotten working class, the true anti-establishment party, does Anderson wish that its top team had more people who speak with regional accents \u2013 and fewer people who sound exactly how the public expects politicians to sound?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only seven of us,\u201d he says, referring to the party\u2019s MPs, before adding: \u201cI suppose I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s got a slight accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he feel he is looked down on because of the way he speaks? \u201cWhen I first got there [Westminster], one of the things we say here \u2013 and bear in mind, I\u2019m trying to speak to you correctly, without my vernacular \u2013 is, \u2018Hey up, duck! How you doing, duck?\u2019 Some of the Tories would say, \u2018How you going, duck? All right?\u2019 A lot of that was joking and trying to make you feel welcome, but some of it were\u2026\u201d He pauses. \u201cYeah, snobbery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after about a year, you think, \u2018Fuck \u2018em\u2019,\u201d he continues. \u201cI\u2019ve got as much right to be here, and a lot of those people who were making those comments lost the seats at the last election. I didn\u2019t. I won my seat in a different party when they all said I couldn\u2019t. My vote share went up. And at the local elections last year, we won every single seat here, not just one. We won with over 50 per cent of the vote in every single ward in Ashfield and Mansfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the people who were laughing, who lost their parliamentary seats \u2013 well, they\u2019re not laughing now, because I was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Restore Britain just want to stop us from winning. It\u2019s as simple as that<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anderson is dismissive of Restore Britain, insisting that Rupert Lowe\u2019s hard-right party will be an electoral flash in the pan, despite recently showing signs of eating into Reform support.<\/p>\n

He acknowledges Lowe\u2019s sizeable social media reach (\u201cFair play to Rupert, he\u2019s got a platform\u201d) but insists that \u201cdecent\u201d people who have drifted from Reform to Restore Britain since the 2024 general election will come back to \u201cthe people\u2019s army\u201d before the country goes to the polls again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has got a huge social media following. But what they don\u2019t realise is \u2013 which I learned very quickly in politics \u2013 Twitter is not the ballot box. It\u2019s not.\u201d He adds: \u201cOnce people get to the ballot box they\u2019ll think, \u2018Well, if I vote Restore, I\u2019ll probably get a Labour MP, I\u2019m not going to do that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cRestore Britain just want to stop us from winning. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson says his party should simply \u201cignore\u201d Lowe, rather than engage in a battle for the right, and accuses Restore activists of \u201cbullying\u201d Reform members during the recent Makerfield election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were turning up in Jeeps and threatening our staff and bullying people, trying to get on our battle bus, effing and blinding. This is not campaigning. Why aren\u2019t you knocking on doors and putting your message across to people, rather than threatening and intimidating staff and our volunteers? It\u2019s not the way we do politics in this country, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

A Restore spokesman later describes the claims as \u201cnonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Lee
Lee Anderson (Photography by Tom Pilston)<\/figcaption>
\n<\/figure>\n

If Anderson is right, and his party does turn it around in time for the next general election, as Farage\u2019s chief whip he would be tasked with managing a parliamentary Reform party that will have grown from seven MPs to a three-figure total.<\/p>\n

And while Reform is keen to take a sledgehammer to large parts of what it describes as the Westminster establishment, one institution that Anderson intends to preserve is whipping, telling The House that Reform MPs publicly criticising a Farage government would not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing at the moment is going through the parliamentary selection process. And this is what we speak about: not just becoming a candidate, but if you do become an MP, about the whipping system, about we\u2019re there to do a job, we\u2019re there to pass laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says MPs should always keep disagreements with their government private, dismissing Burnham\u2019s pledge to grant Labour MPs more freedom from the whip as something you wouldn\u2019t find in a Reform ministry: \u201cI just think, \u2018oh shut up\u2019. He\u2019s your leader. You should back him. Have your arguments in private. Go and see him. Give him a bollock in private. Shout at him. Scream.\u201d Anderson would, however, seek to do away with \u201cpointless debates\u201d by which he means Westminster Hall debates; adjournment debates where there is only \u201cme and probably two or three Labour MPs\u201d in the House of Commons; and opposition day debates \u201cwhere the vote doesn\u2019t mean anything\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for me to put my point across and represent people and talk about stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t change anything. It just gets you a few clicks on social media, gets you headlines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of stuff we need to do in this country, and we\u2019re wasting so much parliamentary time.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, the Ashfield MP believes parliamentary recess should be much shorter, and that it should be normal for MPs to legislate at weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re lazy. We\u2019re bone-idle. Quote me on that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be at work. There\u2019s enough that needs doing in this country not to be sat on a pit tip talking to you. The country\u2019s in a right state at the moment, and we\u2019ve got, what, six or seven weeks off? Then we go back for 10 days. Then we\u2019ve got conference recess. Conference should be held over a weekend. Why have we got recess for conference?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you want a pint, the safest place for an MP is on the estate<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anderson says he personally wouldn\u2019t be bothered if the parliamentary estate stopped serving alcohol, but believes there is an important MP safety argument for keeping the bars open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been a big socialiser,\u201d he says. \u201cI might go [to an event] because I have to be there. I don\u2019t really want to go. If you want a pint, the safest place for an MP is on the estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he has ever felt unsafe drinking off the estate, he says: \u201cI had somebody come up to me and call me a racist in the Marquis of Granby, to my face. I told him to eff off, and he went. That\u2019s problem solved, isn\u2019t it? But you shouldn\u2019t really have to put yourself in that position.\u201d But he adds: \u201cIs it right that some MPs get pissed, start throwing their weight around and saying silly things on the Terrace? No, it\u2019s not. They should be banned forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about restoration and renewal? While Anderson agrees that the Palace of Westminster \u201cis dropping to bits\u201d, he opposes a full decant, explaining that if it was up to him, necessary repairs would be carried out \u201cas and when\u201d to keep the building running \u201ctickety-boo\u201d: \u201cIf you say we\u2019re going to close it and spend 50 billion on it, we\u2019ll never get back there. It\u2019ll take 10 years, 15 years to do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week after our conversation, Lowe seemingly extended an olive branch to Farage, posting on social media that Reform and Restore Britain should work together to defeat the left and bring about a \u201cpatriotic government\u201d at the next general election. Farage said he was \u201copen-minded\u201d about collaboration but stressed that he had \u201cno desire\u201d to accept Lowe\u2019s conditions, which included excluding former Tory ministers from a future Reform-Restore cabinet. Judging by Anderson\u2019s comments on this late July morning, he\u2019ll probably take some convincing.<\/p>\n

Anderson believes Reform may be forced to expedite its general election strategy, telling The House that Burnham has \u201cprobably\u201d got it in him to call a snap election. The Prime Minister has so far ruled out going to the country early, telling the BBC that doing so would \u201cpostpone\u201d his programme for fixing the country. Anderson is unsure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I flip-flop a little bit on this,\u201d he says. \u201cIs Burnham willing to give up 100 red wall MPs for the sake of becoming prime minister again and getting another five years? I think he probably is. He\u2019s probably that callous and ruthless that he would. He\u2019d surrender this area and areas like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interview over, Anderson makes his way down the hill with its sweeping views across a parched Nottinghamshire all the way to Lincoln Cathedral in the far distance. There\u2019s a battle ahead and he\u2019s ready for the fight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee Anderson (Photography by Tom Pilston) 12 min read01 September Reform\u2019s party chairman Lee Anderson tells Adam Payne that Andy Burnham is no working-class hero \u2013 and insists it is his insurgent party on the right that is still setting the political agenda Lee Anderson wants to climb a hill, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}