Tories reject calls to suspend Nick Fletcher after he tells voters to support Reform

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats called for PM Rishi Sunak to suspend the Don Valley MP following a social media post in which he endorsed voters to return his “great friend” and former deputy party chairman Lee Anderson to Parliament following his recent switch to Reform UK.

Mr Fletcher wrote: “Ashfield has its greatest champion and I hope they appreciate what he has done for his home town and his country at the next election. We both need to be back in Westminster.”

After the storm erupted, the Doncaster MP backtracked and said: “For the avoidance of any doubt of course I want to see a Conservative majority Government returned at the next election with as many Conservative MPs as possible.”

The Conservative Party has thrown its support behind Mr Fletcher, with a spokesperson saying: “Nick has made clear he wants to see as many Conservatives as possible elected. A vote for Reform is a vote to let Keir Starmer into No.10.”

The Liberal Democrats condemned “further Tory infighting” and said Rishi Sunak had to “find his backbone and kick Nick Fletcher out of the Conservative Party”.

The Don Valley MP’s comments came after Mr Anderson declared he would not campaign in some Tory constituencies, including Mr Fletcher’s, because of his friendships with the sitting MPs.

Announcing his non-aggression pact, Mr Anderson said he would not campaign against four Tory MPs because "friendship means more".

They include Ben Bradley, the MP for Mansfield, Brendan Clarke-Smith, who represents Bassetlaw and Marco Longhi, the Dudley North MP as well as Mr Fletcher.

In a post he said: "These people are my friends and the ones that reached out to me last month.

"They will always be my friends and because of this I will not campaign against them in their Parliamentary seats.

"Friendship means more to me. Every other seat is fair game."

A Reform UK spokesperson said: "Lee Anderson made it clear from the day he joined Reform UK that he would not personally campaign against a handful of his close friends.

"The party respect this decision and it shows Lee's loyalty to his friends, which goes beyond politics.”