Reform UK leader says party not offering money to Tory MPs to defect

Richard Tice responds to claims by Conservative deputy chair, Lee Anderson, that he was offered ‘a lot of money’ to switch

Conservative MPs have not been offered money to defect to Reform UK, the party’s leader, Richard Tice, has stressed, amid claims that Lee Anderson was offered “a lot of money” last month.

Anderson, the MP for Ashfield and one of the Conservative party’s deputy chairs, was recorded telling Tory activists last month: “A political party that begins with an R offered me a lot of money to join them. I mean a lot of money, I mean a lot of money.”