Lee Anderson weighs in as Tory civil war erupts with leadership race hotting up

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.

The succesful candidate to be appointed in November - but a Tory civil war is already erupting as many members including a former MP aren't quite sure that he's up to the job.

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”.

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.

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.

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.