Tory vice-chair backed death penalty and naval ‘standoff’ in Channel

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The Conservative MP Lee Anderson has vigorously backed the death penalty, called for a naval “standoff” in the Channel over small boats, and accused a radio reporter of being dishonest in a combustible start to his role as Conservative party vice-chair.

The outspoken Ashfield MP, whose elevation to the job on Tuesday thrilled some fellow “red wall” MPs but sparked worries among others about potential damage to the party, also expressed delight at being voted “the worst man in Britain”.

Anderson’s support for the death penalty came in an interview with the Spectator, conducted just before he became party chair. Asked if he backed the idea he said: “Yes. Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. You know that, don’t you? 100% success rate.”

Noting that opponents held up the prospect of miscarriages of justice, Anderson said people shown murdering someone on camera should be executed the “same week”, adding: “I don’t want to pay for these people.”

Defending his much-reported earlier comments that most people who use food banks do so because they cannot budget and shop properly, Anderson said he could make these arguments as he had been “a single parent for 17 years with two boys”.

He told the magazine: “I struggled. I know what it’s like to put your last fiver in the gas meter. I know what it’s like to have to sell your car because you can’t afford to run it – so I’ll take no lectures from anybody about being hard up and struggling for survival.”

Discussing the arrival of people coming across the Channel in small boats, Anderson said those coming “are seeing a country where the streets are paved with gold – where, once you land, they are not in that manky little fucking scruffy tent, they are going to be in a four-star hotel”.

Asked what he would do, he said: “I’d send them straight back the same day. I’d put them on a Royal Navy frigate or whatever and sail it to Calais, have a standoff. And they’d just stop coming.”

In a separate interview with his local BBC radio station in Nottingham, Anderson became angry when asked about an incident in which, campaigning before the 2019 election, he seemingly pretended a friend was a supportive voter while being trailed by a camera crew.

Asked if he was dishonest, Anderson refused to respond, instead asking the presenter 10 times if she had ever told an untruth. When she conceded that was the case, the MP told her: “So you’re dishonest.”

The radio station published a clip of the entire interview, saying Anderson had raised concerns about how it had been edited.

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Many of Anderson’s views will chime with Tory members, who also tend to back the death penalty. The deputy chair said he was a popular draw at party events, and was now booked up to Christmas.

But some Tories will worry such trenchant views, widely reported, will put off votes the party needs to attract, for example in seats where it faces a challenge from the Lib Dems.

Speaking on Thursday morning, the education minister Claire Coutinho told LBC Radio she was a “big fan” of Anderson, while disagreeing over areas like the death penalty.

“What I think people respond to when it comes to Lee is he does speak his mind. And I think it’s really important that we have people who have lots of different opinions,” she said.