The Tory party’s new deputy chairman has defended controversial comments he made about the death penalty - amid criticism that the “daft” remarks showed he should not have been appointed.
Outspoken Lee Anderson said it was “difficult to argue against” execution as a punishment in some murder cases, singling out the 2013 killing of solider Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
“I was asked a question and I answered it,” Mr Anderson told TalkTv on Thursday morning.
“I always think that in certain circumstances it is difficult to argue against and the case I always go back to is the murder of Lee Rigby.
“Murders like that, where the proof is there. There are hundreds of witnesses. It’s very, very difficult to argue against the death penalty in cases like that and I pretty much stick to that sort of view.”
The Ashfield MP told the Spectator that “nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed” and defended comments he has made in the past about benefit claimants.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected any calls for a return of executions.
During a visit to Cornwall on Thursaday, he said: "That's not my view, that's not the Government's view.
"But we are united in the Conservative Party in wanting to be absolutely relentless in bearing down on crime and making sure people are safe and feel safe."
The Conservative party said the interview took place before the Ashfield MP was promoted to the senior role .
Tory Children’s Minister Claire Coutinho insisted Mr Anderson was “a very good thing for the party”, but she did not agree with his views on the death penalty.
But Deputy Leader of Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper said: “These daft comments show why Lee Anderson should never have been appointed in the first place.
“People are desperate for help with the cost of living and our struggling NHS, not politicians who stoke controversy for the sake of it.”
Mr Anderson, a former coalminer and Labour Party councillor, was appointed in Tuesday’s reshuffle, while Fulham and Chelsea MP Greg Hands was promoted to party chairman.
The MP has courted controversy since winning his Red Wall seat at the 2019 election.
He has said nuisance council estate tenants should be made to live in tents in a field and woken up at 6am to dig out potatoes and that nurses earning £30,000 a year do not need to use foodbanks.
He also faced accusations he dishonesty set up a doorstep encounter during his campaign to get elected.
Mr Anderson insisted he would not be “toning down” his opinions following his promotion, but he may make some of his argument “behind closed down” from now on.
