Blunt Lee Anderson charms Conservative activists

Had Taylor Swift decided to do an impromptu gig a the Conservative Party conference?

The number of people braving the wind and rain to stand outside a tent, with their noses pressed against the windows, gave the impression that a celebrity of some sort was doing a turn inside.

And that is the status the Conservative deputy chair Lee Anderson has at this conference.

The ex-miner, ex-Labour staffer's gift is making the audience of Conservative Party members feel good about themselves.

He told them they weren't members of a "nasty" party but people who valued hard work.

He assured them they weren't xenophobic but believe that high levels of immigration damaged this country, while draining other countries of their talent.

Were they destined to lose the next election? Not at all, he said. It was just a matter of keeping calm. "No room for doom and gloom here," he said.

He also made them laugh. A lot.

Asked if he would ever re-join the Labour Party, he called for security.

Why did he think the prime minister made him deputy chair? "Probably to shut me up," he replied.

And asked about poor transport links to Bradford, he was sceptical. "Would you want to get there quicker?" he deadpanned.

On issue after issue, he was typically combative.

He suggested some children diagnosed with ADHD were just "nuisances" and that the root cause of the illness was "bad parenting".

He also questioned whether people were really suffering from poverty and hunger in the UK today, saying "This poverty nonsense, going back to when I was growing up in the 70s that was real poverty."

The government hasn't officially confirmed that it is scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2, but the party's deputy chairman had made up his mind.

"What good is it, that little old lady, sat looking through her bungalow window at a train going by at 120mph but she can't even get from her village to the next village to a doctor's appointment?

"HS2 is a gamble and a bad gambler will always keep throwing money at something."

On other subjects he was more circumspect.

Asked if Brexit was working, he said it was on "the right track" and that [ex-PM] Boris Johnson didn't get "a fair run at it".

Was Rishi Sunak doing a good job on immigration? There was a pause long enough to elicit a giggle in the audience. "The PM has got a plan... he wants to sort it out," he said.

He acknowledged he was divisive but said he was doing it for the party members.

"I'm saying what you want me to say. You daren't say it. So if I don't say it, you've not got a voice."

This was greeted with a hearty round of applause. It was a true mutual appreciation club.

That is until the journalists got to ask questions. He sighed heavily when one told him which paper she was from.

He accused the journalist of making things up, while the audience began heckling.

It was a reminder that his forthright opinions may not always get such a friendly reception, but for the majority of those inside the tent: he was their anti-hero.