LEE ANDERSON’S decision to jump ship to Reform UK proves the government’s attempt to stir up division has emboldened the far right, campaigners have warned.

The former Tory MP caused outrage last month after claiming that “Islamists” had “got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan. 

Mr Anderson was stripped of the party whip and suspended — not for the comments but for persistently refusing to apologise for them.

The Ashfield MP announced today that he had joined the right-wing populist party Reform UK. 

The move comes just weeks after Mr Anderson branded Reform leader Richard Tice a “pound-shop Nigel Farage.”

Brushing the insult aside, Mr Tice proudly announced at a press conference in Westminster that Mr Anderson will be Reform UK’s first representative in the Commons.

Blocked at the podium by a Union flag, Mr Anderson said: “All I want is my country back,” adding he had to do some “soul searching” on his political journey, prompting sniggers from the crowd.

The former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party maintained that it was “not controversial” to be concerned about “legal migration,” “hate marches” and to fight back against a “culture war.”

In his strongest criticism yet of the Tories, Mr Anderson later said that the party “stifles free speech,” and said it was “unpalatable” that he was disciplined for speaking his mind.

A Conservative Party spokesperson expressed “regret” at Mr Anderson’s decision to join Reform UK, adding that a vote for the right-wing party will fail to deliver anything but a Labour government.

Reform founder Nigel Farage urged former home secretary Suella Braverman to join his party after she spewed Islamophobic comments last month, claiming in the Telegraph: “The Islamists, the extremists and the anti-semites are in charge.”

Just days ago, Ms Braverman declared the Tories are in a “dire position,” with many MPs likely to lose their seats at the general election.

When asked for his reaction on Mr Anderson’s defection, Mr Khan told the Evening Standard: “This is a man who more than two weeks ago said things that were clearly, clearly Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist.  

“The leader of his party, the Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak], hasn’t got the backbone to call them what they are, can’t utter the word ‘Islamophobia’.”

Mr Khan said most Londoners will conclude that “the Conservative Party and the Reform Party are basically the same: seeking to divide our communities rather than bring them together.”

The Tory Party “seems to be more interested in playing on people's fears rather than addressing them,” he said.

Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden MP said that Mr Sunak is “too weak to lead a party too extreme to be led, and if the Tories got another five years it would all just get worse."

Sabby Dhalu, Stand Up to Racism co-convener, said that it had been inevitable that Mr Anderson would defect to Reform UK.

She said: “The danger of the government stoking up Islamophobia, redefining extremism, clamping down on the right to protest and stirring up division, is that it emboldens the populist right and fascists.”

Hope Not Hate campaigns director Georgie Laming warned that Mr Anderson is “one of the most extreme and divisive MPs in Parliament. He’s said immigrants should ‘f*** off back to France’ and made Islamophobic comments about Sadiq Khan.

“Joining Reform UK tells us all we need to know about Mr Anderson and his new party,” she said.