Lee Anderson called a 'p***k' during Sky News report

Lee Anderson is in the headlines again at the moment after defecting to Reform UK, and he was inadvertently called a ‘prick’ during a live news report.

Sky News host Sophy Ridge briefly stumbled over her words while discussing the story, fumbling the word “bricks” and instead saying “pricks”.

"Tonight, one of the most prominent Tory MPs from the 2019 intake, Lee Anderson, defects to Reform UK, as one of the last 'pricks' in the so-called 'Tory red wall' just crumbled away,” the presenter said, seemingly holding back laughter as she realised her mistake.

It comes after Anderson announced that he had joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, attacking the Tories after being suspended for making Islamophobic remarks about London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Anderson, who was appointed deputy chairman of the Tory Party last year, accused the party of stifling “free speech”, adding that he found it “unpalatable” that he had been disciplined for “speaking my mind”.

He becomes Reform UK’s first sitting MP. However, as recently as January, Anderson branded the party’s leader Richard Tice a “pound-shop Nigel Farage” and said Reform was “not a proper political party”.

Lee Anderson shaking hands with Reform UK leader Richard TiceGetty Images

Asked what had changed, the MP, who is also a presenter on GB News, said: “There’s not been a turning point. We all know that sometimes politicians are about as trustworthy as journalists in what they say and do.”

His suspension from the Conservative party came after a television broadcast on GB News in February, in which Anderson suggested that Khan was under the “control” of “Islamists”.

He claimed: “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London, and they’ve got control of [Kier] Starmer as well.”

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