Suspended Tory MP Lee Anderson announced his defection to the Reform party on Monday in a fresh blow to Rishi Sunak’s premiership. The Ashfield MP was stripped of the Conservative Whip last month for making "divisive" and "dangerous" comments about London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Lee Anderson asked if he'll join Reform Party During a press conference announcing he had joined Reform, Mr Anderson doubled down on the remarks. He said: “I made some remarks a few weeks back about the London Mayor, for which I was stripped of the Whip. Let me be clear right now on this stage. I will not apologise.” He added: “I want my country back.” But he ruled out a by-election in his Red Wall seat, despite in 2020 voting for a Bill that would require any MP who switched parties to call an immediate poll in their constituency. Reform leader Richard Tice, who has previously been described by Mr Anderson as a “Pound shop Nigel Farage”, welcomed the MP to his party. Subscribe to the Evening Standard: https://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-Evening-Standard for latest breaking news from the UK, US and around the world, plus podcasts and features. Evening Standard on socials: Check out our full video catalog: null Videos, daily editorial and more: https://www.standard.co.uk/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.fb.com/eveningstandard Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eveningstandard and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evening.standard