Lee Anderson is the Chief Whip of Reform UK (Image: Getty)
Reform UK's chief whip Lee Anderson has weighed in on James Cleverly's Tory leadership bid as the race to become the next Leader of the Opposition begins to intensify.
The Shadow Home Secretary was the first Conservative MP to announce that they are running for the leadership - and he has already ruled out the possibility of a merger with Reform UK.
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Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Cleverly said: “The Conservative Party doesn’t do mergers. The simple truth is that we have got a series of principles.”
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will remain as the acting leader of the party until his successor is successfully chosen, with nominations kicking off this evening. In a statement, the MP for Richmond and Northallerton said he wants “a smooth and orderly transition to a new Leader of the Opposition”.
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James Cleverly could be the next Leader of the Opposition (Image: Getty)
Former Ipswich MP Tom Hunt was among the first to comment on Cleverly's announcement, taking to X to share that he was "not convinced" by his former peer. He said: "Lovely guy, but I’m not convinced. Far too slow to do anything about enormous legal migration numbers. Didn’t accept much needed amendments to the Rwanda Bill that could have made it work."
Hunt was supported online by Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, who penned: "I agree with Tom" on his own social media page. Anderson was previously the Conservative Party MP for Ashfield, however deflected to the Reform UK party after having the whip suspended in May 2024.
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Reform UK won five parliamentary seats in the 2024 General Election, with Anderson heading one of them. Nigel Farage is the leader of the party, after taking over from Richard Tice.
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Priti Patel is also expected to run (Image: Getty)
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Cleverly will likely have competition for leader of the opposition from a number of Conservative politicians, including former home secretary Priti Patel. Speaking to GB News, Conservative MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke confirmed he would be nominating Dame Patel to be the next leader: “I will be nominating Priti Patel because I think Priti has not just the pragmatic approach to all the issues but she was also there, brought into CCHQ, by Cecil Parkinson in 1997 about how to rebuild the Conservative Party after that defeat.
“You get this pattern in government, that after a long period of time in government, the structure starts to fall down. You think it would do the opposite, but it doesn’t. You’re so busy on governing that the structure falls down. That is task number one.
“Priti has had senior roles and she’s respected on all wings of the party, and I think that’s an important point. And it comes back to we’ve got to have a conservative leader representing the Conservative Party and get away from these different gangs that have formed and have been fighting with each other.”
Nominations begin today, and will close on July 29. In order to qualify, each candidate needs a proposer, seconder and eight nominations.
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