Lee Anderson has accused Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat of trying to “gaslight” the public about his party’s role in stoking social divisions in the UK through mass migration as he attempted to shift blame for the recent riots on Nigel Farage.
In his first major speech since declaring for the Tory leadership contest, neoconservative MP Tom Tugendhat largely glanced over mass migration’s role in the riots and protests following the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport and instead attempted to cast himself as the candidate of law and order, claiming that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has taken a “softy, softy” approach to the violence on the streets of Britain.
Tugendhat, already infamous for cheerleading the left-wing smear campaign against late English conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, also took aim at Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, accusing the Brexit boss of engaging in “deeply irresponsible and dangerous” rhetoric for questioning if authorities were withholding information about the identity and background of the alleged attacker in the aftermath of three young girls being stabbed to death and several others being critically injured.
Responding to the speech from Tugendhat, Reform UK Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Ashfield, Lee Anderson MP said in comments provided to Breitbart London: “Once again we see the Tories try to gaslight and shift the blame from their failures and broken promises over mass immigration. It is no wonder that polling out today shows a third of Conservative supporters do not care who their next leader is.
“The awful riots and social unrest we have seen on our streets have been sown by years of Tory failure. Politicians like Tom Tugendhat, have failed to listen to community concerns over impacts on access to healthcare, school places and local jobs.
While stressing the need for “honesty,” Tugendhat falsely claimed that Mr Farage had not condemned the anti-mass migration riots, even though the Reform UK leader had done so explicitly on multiple occasions and the fact that he has long rejected political violence and made painstaking efforts to distance himself from figures such as anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson despite facing criticism from supporters for doing so.
“His comments today, which omitted two tiered policing and integration failures, once again show why the Conservative Party should never be trusted again,” Anderson said.
“The British public voted on four separate occasions for the Conservatives to control immigration and after each vote it got worse, not better.
“If they think attacking Reform UK will win back the millions of voters lost to us at the last election then it just shows how arrogant they are”.
Meanwhile, another top contender to replace Rishi Sunak at the helm of the Tory party, former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, has come under fire over migration failings following the resurfacing of a 2018 clip in which she “welcomed” the elimination of a cap on skilled worker visas and students, the scrapping of which has, in part, resulted in record levels of immigration.
Responding to the clip, Mr Farage said: “If Kemi becomes leader, Reform will boom.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.