The Conservative Party MP Lee Anderson says he is in favour of bringing back the death penalty as it has a “100 per cent success rate” in preventing reoffending.
Lee, who was appointed deputy chairman of the party this week, made a name for himself by criticising benefit claimants and foodbank users.
According to The Times:
The former coalminer and Labour party employee was appointed in Tuesday’s reshuffle as a counterweight to Greg Hands, the Remain-backing west London MP who is party chairman.
While the appointment of the Ashfield MP has been welcomed by many red wall MPs, other Conservatives are concerned by a history of remarks which include criticising the financial planning of nurses using food banks, boycotting Euro 2020 because of England players’ decision to take the knee and suggesting that nuisance council tenants be made to live in tents and pick potatoes.
Rishi Sunak’s press secretary said the prime minister and his new deputy party chairman “get on very well” and Anderson hit back at criticism, saying: “The more my critics criticise me, the more I know I am doing and saying the right things. If they ever stop criticising me that’s the time to worry.”
In an interview with The Spectator before his appointment, Anderson argued that he was “speaking from a position of strength” when he criticised food bank users or benefits claimants.
“I can say it because I was a single parent for 17 years with two boys. 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,” Anderson said.
He added that traditional wealthy Conservatives shied away from voicing concerns about how much people on benefits can take home “because it’s like picking on poor people, isn’t it? When, actually, most working-class people would agree with me.
“If I say something that is supposedly outrageous in [Westminster], I get back to Ashfield . . . people will come out the shops and say, ‘You say what I’m thinking.’’’
In the interview, Anderson floated arresting policy suggestions including putting migrants arriving on small boats “on a Royal Navy frigate” to stop crossings.
He also backed the return of the death penalty, saying: “Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. You know that, don’t you? 100 per cent success rate.”
