Stefan Rousseau/PA
New Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has said Conservatives will have to “wrestle with their own consciences” about following him as he kicked off a tour of his constituency with his new party leader.
Mr Anderson, who defected to Reform after he was stripped of the Tory whip over comments about London Mayor Sadiq Khan, set off from the centre of Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, on an open top bus with party leader Richard Tice.
At the first stop, in Selston, he was asked if more Tory MPs would follow him.
He told the PA news agency: “That’s up to them. I’m not putting pressure on anybody.
“They’ve got to wrestle with their own conscience on that one and do what they think is right by themselves.”
Mr Anderson said he still speaks to his former colleagues.
He said: “I’ve still got friends. You don’t lose your friends overnight – not your real friends anyway.”
Earlier, the MP spoke to shoppers from the top of the bright blue Reform bus in Morrisons car park.
He said: “I love this place. I worked in the pit here, worked in the factories here.
“I know what you people think and say.
“When I come back on a Thursday from that madhouse in London and speak to people in the pubs and in Morrison and in the streets, they say to me ‘Lee, thank you, you’re saying what we’re thinking’.”
Mr Anderson said: “I want my country back.
“Successive governments have tried to give our country away over the years.
“I want it back. I love this country and I love you lot.”
Related: Former Neighbours actress Holly Valance backs Lee Anderson and Reform UK
