Reform MP rages at BBC, Royals and benefits… and reveals plans for his future

HE is the so-called hardman of British politics who rails against snowflakes and all things woke.

But Lee Anderson is suddenly deeply pensive – and dare I suggest slightly emotional – as he looks to a life after politics.

“Life’s ebbing away, young man,” he tells me. “It’s slipping away so I’m going to try something else.”

He tells me the next election will be his last. Travelling the world, and perhaps returning to be a local councillor, are his future calling.

“I want to do one more term after this, which will take me up to my late 60s,” he says. “And then I want to do something else.”

Yet there is much to do before Anderson can sail off into the sunset.

Top of his intray is helping his pal Nigel Farage achieve his “destiny” of becoming Prime Minister.

After a bumpy few months, Reform will seek to dust itself down this week at their annual conference in Birmingham.

It has not been easy of late as questions over Farage’s own future swirl amid his financial affairs.

But Anderson is adamant it is his “destiny” to take the party to glory and defeat Labour at the ballot box.

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“He’s the one who excites the public, whether you love him or loathe him,” the 59-year-old tells me.

He adds: “I think it’s his destiny. I’ve told him this, it’s his destiny. He’s our next Churchill, it has to be him.”

He points to Farage’s knack of working a room packed with donors, veterans, business owners, pensioners and ordinary punters.

“No other politician could do that,” he says.

As we sit on a park bench in his Ashfield constituency – what he dubs the “capital of common sense” – he tells me one of his proudest achievements was becoming the first MP born and bred here.

So proud, in fact, that if he were stranded on a desert island the one thing he would take is his parliamentary pass.

A reminder of how far he has come.

Anderson, a former coal miner, points to a memorial celebrating the area’s rich heritage of the coal industry before we start the interview.

But could the thousands of youngsters today facing a life on the dole really benefit from following him down the pits.

“Yes, 100 per cent.

“Because it’s not just about going to work and earning a wage and contributing. Going to work is good for you.

He adds: “The biggest talking point for us when I worked down the pit [on] a Monday morning was football. How did your team do?

“Sometimes men would actually, literally, just not come to work on a Monday morning if their team had lost… because of the bragging rights.

“It’s all that sort of stuff. Again, might seem like little things in life, but they’re huge.”

The Reform party conference will begin this Thursday.

Despite a few setbacks in the polls, Reform’s party chair remains bullish and promises it to be the most well-attended party conference yet.

He says the three-day jamboree will be about firing up the party faithful and plotting Reform’s path to power.

“We’re on a mission to get our country back, and everybody can play an important part in that,” he says.

Security will be tight, with the party ramping up protection at events and for its top brass.

The tragic death of their beloved colleague Ann Widdecombe will cast an inevitable shadow over the event both in tributes paid but also more precautions.

But it is not just Reform figures facing questions over their safety.

The row over who should get taxpayer-funded protection has also put Harry and Meghan’s security back in the spotlight.

Does he believe taxpayers should be forking out millions to protect the couple now they are back in Blighty?

“Is he at risk? Yes, he is at risk.

“Probably at more risk from her than he is from anybody else. I think she’s been a bad influence on him personally.

“That’s not the party line. That’s my line. I’m suspicious.

“I’m suspicious of why they’ve written these books, made these Netflix series slagging off the Royal Family, and then want to come back.

“I’m really suspicious.”

Next in the firing line is the BBC which he tells me he “begrudgingly” puts himself up for interview on.

He confirms that one thing the internal policy team are looking and speaking about is potentially making the Beeb a subscription service.

“I think the BBC have got a bit of a cheek. They’re not the cuddly Auntie Beeb anymore. They’re the anti-Britain channel.

He adds: “I think [the licence fee] needs to be scrapped.”

The death penalty is another controversial issue Anderson has supported since becoming an MP.

But he has disagreed with Mr Farage over the issue, after the Reform leader said the number of miscarriages of justice meant he could “never support it”.

Has Mr Anderson managed to change his leader’s mind on this issue?

“No, he doesn’t believe in it.

“We differ. People say, ‘Oh, Nigel doesn’t agree with the death penalty and you’re divided,’ what a load of b****s that is!

He adds: “This is how out of touch I think Parliament is. I think the public would vote for the death penalty. Parliament would never vote for the death penalty.”

Would he back a referendum on it?

“Referendums are very divisive.

“We learnt that with the Brexit referendum, it divides the country and gets families falling out with each other.

“So yes I would, but it would be divisive, very divisive.”

One issue which puts off Reform floating voters is its alleged lukewarm support for Ukraine.

The party came under the firing line after Nigel Farage claimed the West had “provoked”

Vladimir Putin’s invasion by expanding NATO and the European Union eastwards.

His comments triggered a furious backlash from the Tories and Labour, who accused the Reform leader of echoing the Kremlin’s justification for the war.

Anderson, whose partner is Ukrainian, says the party backs the war-torn country but funding should come with more strings attached.

“I think we should support Ukraine.

“But I’m very dubious where the money goes, it’s a corrupt country”

He adds: “I’m just very, very mindful of where the money goes.

“Zelensky, he’s always coming cap in hand. Don’t blame him. He’s the leader of a country. He’s got to do that.

“It’s awful what the Ukrainian people have been through. Dreadful.”

Much like Reform, Anderson is never without a bit of controversy. But his final admission almost floors me.

I ask if he’s ever done anything woke, and he confesses to once having had “vegetarian thoughts”, before his love of bacon sarnies made him see sense.