Conservative MP Lee Anderson clashed with a BBC radio presenter over a video of him setting up a fake doorstep encounter with a friend during the 2019 election.
Mr Anderson – promoted to Tory deputy chairman by Rishi Sunak this week – was caught asking a friend to pose as an anti-Labour swing voter on the doorstep during the campaign.
The outspoken Ashfield MP got into a feisty exchange about the clip with BBC Radio Nottingham presenter Verity Cowley over the issue – accusing her of being “a liar”.
The Tory MP for Ashfield did not deny staging the episode with a friend, but asked the presenter 10 times if she had ever told a lie.
When Ms Cowley said she had not “asked somebody to pretend to be something that they’re not just to further my campaign”, before saying some people can tell false truths to protect people.
Mr Anderson fired back: “So you’re a liar, so you’re dishonest. We’ve established you’re dishonest and you tell lies.”
He added: “Let’s talk about that video, because three weeks afterwards I was voted in as the first-ever Conservative MP [in Ashfield] … beating Labour by 8,000 votes. So that’s what the people of Ashfield think and that’s all that matters to me.”
The Tory deputy chair also pleaded with the BBC host not to play the clip of him talking to a friend without the full context of the 10-minute version.
After Ms Cowley told Mr Anderson that the entire interview would not be able to be played due to time constraints, the MP asked her: “Don’t play it, please,” threatening not to speak to the local broadcaster ever again.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Sunak was forced to distance himself Mr Anderson’s views after his deputy party chair backed the return of the death penalty.
In an interview with The Spectator magazine, Mr Anderson said he would support the UK reintroducing the death penalty.
He said: “Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. You know that, don’t you? 100 per cent success rate.”
The prime minister said “that’s not my view, that’s not the government’s view” when he was questioned about reinstating capital punishment.
A former Labour councillor before joining the Tories, Mr Anderson has a long history of controversial remarks, having criticised food bank users and the England men’s football team for taking the knee in protest at racism.
He has been dubbed “30p Lee” for claiming that meals could be prepared for that sum and suggesting people using food banks could not budget or cook properly.
Asked if he believes that some working people, including nurses and firefighters, are having to use food banks, Mr Anderson replied “No.”
“I will challenge you right now to find a firefighter or a nurse in Ashfield that’s using a food bank,” he told BBC Nottingham.
