The former Tory Party Vice-Chairman Mr Anderson was suspended after he said Islamists had 'control' of Sadiq Khan.
Mr Anderson said he had been given the chance to "speak out in Parliament on behalf of millions of people up and down the country" who support Reform.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said Mr Anderson had "made a real mistake" in defecting from the Conservatives.Mr Cleverly said he agreed with Mr Anderson's comments from January this year, when he said a "vote for Reform will only let the Labour party in".Mr Anderson was elected in 2019 to the Red Wall seat of Ashfield with a 5,700 vote majority - having previously served as a Labour councillor for his home town.
Announcing Mr Anderson's defection, Reform UK Leader Richard Tice said his party had founds a "champion" for its plans to supplant the Conservatives in the Red Wall.The Reform leader said: "I think millions of British people endorsed the concerns and sentiments of what Lee was saying, which is that we are sick and tired of our streets being taken over by these pro-Hamas, extremist, antisemitic people and Islamist extremists.
Mr Anderson sparked a backlash after he claimed last month that the capital had been "taken over" amid the weekly pro-Palestinian protests over the war in Gaza.
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