New Tory chairman Greg Hands on backfoot over ‘30p Lee’

New Tory party chairman Greg Hands was forced to defend his controversial deputy Lee Anderson on Wendesday as Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle came under fire.

The Prime Minister promoted the outspoken MP for Ashfield in a bid to shore up support for the Conservatives in so-called northern red wall seats which turned from Labour to the Tories at the 2019 general election.

But Mr Anderson, dubbed “30p Lee”, attracted a storm of criticism last year for claiming hard-up families should be able to prepare meals for 30p and has suggested striking nurses using food banks can’t budget properly.

He was also widely condemned in 2021 when he vowed to boycott England football matches in protest at Gareth Southgate’s players taking the knee before Euro 2020 games.

But Mr Hands, a Remain-backing London MP, insisted Mr Anderson would be a “fantastic asset for the party” and that they would “work together really well”. Asked whether he endorsed Mr Anderson’s comments about people who use food banks, he added on LBC: “I’m not going to comment on things that have been said in the past.”

Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, warned Mr Anderson he will be judged on whether he can reconnect with red wall voters who may have lost faith in the Tories.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think Lee will focus on the red wall seats… he is certainly very forthright in his views.

“But I think that the party has recruited him as deputy chair for his communication and we will certainly judge him on how that goes.”

Mr Sunak launched a mini reshuffle of his cabinet yesterday in a bid to reboot his premiership and close Labour’s 20-point lead in the polls.

The Prime Minister scrapped the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department, creating four new Whitehall ministries including a dedicated Energy and Net Zero department and a Science, Innovation and Technology ministry.

But the Liberal Democrats accused him of “frittering away tens of millions of taxpayers’ cash” on a bureaucratic overhaul while Labour compared it to “rearranging the deckchairs on the sinking Titanic”.

Mr Hands, who replaces Nadhim Zahawi after he was sacked over his tax affairs, appeared to rule out an early election this year and instead urged his party to be ready to go to the polls in the second half of 2024.