Its a big day in westminster for the first mp for reform uk , for the first mp for reform uk, lee anderson has sensationally quit the conservative party, of course, after his suspension and joined the party of richard tice and nigel farage. There was huge amounts of suspicion. Lots of people thought that he might do. Hes thought that he might do. Hes having lots of talks, as he openly admits with the reform party with richard tice and co, hes that decision. Do you hes made that decision. Do you at home think it was it is the right decision. Do you think that he should call a that maybe he should call a by election hes defected to by election now hes defected to another party. The people of ashfield didnt vote for him under the banner of reform, did they . So do you think its time for election, a by election, for an election, a by election, or perhaps general or perhaps with a general election than year away . Election less than a year away . Course, lee anderson of course, lee anderson himself up to himself signed up to an amendment the house of amendment in the house of commons ago, saying commons not so long ago, saying that any defector from one Party Commons not so long ago, saying th. Anotherafector from one Party Commons not so long ago, saying th. Another shouldfrom one Party Commons not so long ago, saying th. Another should haveone Party Commons not so long ago, saying th. Another should have the party to another should have the opfion to another should have the option of facing by election, option of facing a by election, that call that constituents could call a recall petition in in such circumstances. But hes not calling a by election. Big questions. But more than that, who else might be next . With the conservative party trailing in the polls, might more mps think its the polls, might more mps think wsfime the polls, might more mps think its time to jump ship . Well have all of the latest gossip, rumour and salacious stories after your headlines with france , with sam. , with sam. Thom. Emily, thank you very much. Good afternoon from the newsroom. Itsjust much. Good afternoon from the newsroom. Its just gone 12 00, and we start with a recap of that news that lee anderson has become reform uks first mp in a blow to rishi sunak, mr anderson was stripped of the conservative whip after refusing to apologise for claiming that islamists had, he said, got control of the london mayor well, speaking in london mayor well, speaking in london this morning, he said his new party would allow him to speak out on behalf of millions of british voters. Parliament doesnt seem to understand what many british people want, and quite frankly, some of them need to get out more. I made some remarks a few weeks back about the london mayor, for which i was stripped of the whip from the conservative party. And let me be clear right now , on this be clear right now, on this stage, i will not apologise. It is secret that ive been is no secret that ive been talking to my friends in reform for a while , and reform uk has for a while, and reform uk has offered me the chance to speak out in parliament on behalf of millions people, up and down millions of people, up and down the country who feel that theyre not being listened to. Theyre not being listened to. Well, after welcoming lee anderson to reform uk, the partys leader, richard tice said that the first mp for the party is trusted by voters. Party is trusted by voters. Ms lee is going to be our champion of the red wall this is going to boost us in the polls rapidly and heres my prediction. By the summer, were going to close that gap with the tories. Were now about 5 or 6 behind on a couple of polls that could to almost zero if we could close to almost zero if we keep making progress were keep making the progress were making. Making. To other news, and the princess of wales has today publicly apologised for an altered family photo that was released by Kensington Palace. Posting to social media, she admitted that like many amateur photographers, she occasionally experiments with editing, she said, adding that she was sorry for any confusion it may have caused. Well, the mothers day caused. Well, the mothers day image that was taken by the prince of wales was withdrawn by various global photo agencies after suspicions that a number of edits may have been made. Of edits may have been made. Three former conservative home secretaries are calling for a unhed secretaries are calling for a united front to tackle extremism from islamists and far right groups. In a joint statement, dame priti patel, sir sajid javid and amber rudd are both urging labour and the conservatives to Work Together to understand and combat the issue. It comes as Community Secretary michael gove is preparing to announce a new government definition of extremism. Im meanwhile, more extremism. Im meanwhile, more than 50 victims of islamist terror attacks have signed a separate letter condemning anti muslim hate, saying that its important to separate extremists from the majority of other british muslims. Other british muslims. Meanwhile, the government has pledged over £117 million to safeguard mosques , muslim safeguard mosques, muslim schools and Community Centres over the next four years. The funding thats been unveiled today follows the Prime Ministers promise to allocate more than £70 million to protect Jewish Community sites , Jewish Community sites, politicians, Tech Companies and Financial Institutions are meeting in london today to tackle international fraud. The event, thats hosted by the British Government is the first of its kind. Security minister Tom Tugendhat told gb news this morning that the government is working to protect the british people. Already were leading on bringing fraud down, so its down 13 year on year and weve already led globally with the onune already led globally with the online fraud charter, which is a huge moment where weve got Tech Companies, the largest Tech Companies, the largest Tech Companies and other companies , companies and other companies, Telecoms Companies to Work Together to protect british together to protect the british people. Today , thats all people. And today, thats all about bringing to partners. About bringing that to partners. Some more royal news. And the queen is leading the royal family at this years Commonwealth Day service, as the king continues his cancer treatment, her majesty , treatment, her majesty, accompanied by the prince of wales and other key members of the royal family , are gathering the royal family, are gathering at Westminster Abbey for the annual celebration. This years annual celebration. This years event drawing on the theme of event is drawing on the theme of resilience backdrop of resilience against a backdrop of Health Worries among the royal family, hell miss family, though hell miss todays service, his majesty has recorded a video message reaffirming his commitment to serve the 56 member countries. He says to the best of his ability , and finally to the us, ability, and finally to the us, where last nights oscars were dominated by nuclear bomb epic oppenheimer. After winning seven awards including best director for Christopher Nolan and best actor for Cillian Murphy, heres the moment that he claimed the top acting honour. We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and for better or for worse, were all living in oppenheimers world, so i would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Everywhere. One of the other biggest cheers of the night went to emma stone, who took home her second award for best actress, this time for black comedy poor things. But time for black comedy poor things. But it was a night of bad luck for songwriting legend diane warren. The writer of 33 top ten singles has so far notched up 15 nominations, but sadly zero wins. Last nights award for best original song instead went to Billie Eilish and Finneas Oconnell for the track what was i made for, which was featured you may remember in barbie, those are the headlines. Plenty more to come with tom and emily. In the meantime, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code there on your screen or go to gbnews. Com slash alerts. Alerts. Good afternoon britain 12 07. And lee anderson, the former deputy chairman of the conservative party, has sensationally defected to reform uk, becoming the partys first member of parliament in a move that shook westminster , the mp that shook westminster, the mp for ashfield confirmed hes been in talks with reform uk for a while and concluded his speech by declaring i want my country back. Well, for more on this, lets speak to gb news Political Correspondent olivia utley, who was at the press conference this morning in westminster, and olivia, the room has emptied out there now, but, quite a shock for many people. For many people. It was quite a shock for many people. Caused a real ripple in westminster this morning. There are those who write off this defection, some who even say that it isnt really a defection at all. Lee anderson was one of the conservative mps whos been on reform watch for a while now. And then, of course, he was suspended from the conservative party over remarks he made about sadiq khan a couple of weeks ago, which were deemed to be islamophobic. Ago, which were deemed to be islamophobic. You know, there islamophobic. You know, there are those in the conservative party spoken to, who party who i have spoken to, who said anderson didnt really said lee anderson didnt really have choice to join have any choice but to join reform. And this, this, this defection extra defection cant be extra isolated. Were not going to were not expecting a whole load of conservative mps to defect. Now, this was sort of now, this was a sort of extraordinary set of circumstances and a pretty extraordinary character in lee anderson himself. All of that said, cant really just said, you cant really just brush this under the carpet. Rishi sunak himself obviously has a lot of faith in Lee Andersons ability to speak to those red wall voters. Those voters who would be absolutely key to the conservatives holding on to power. Rishi sunak himself made Lee Anderson Deputy chairman for that very reason. So the conservatives cant exactly just turn around now and say, well, lee anderson wasnt an asset in the first place. Its very clear that he was an asset to them. It is also true that richard tice has implied time and time again that there are other, mps who are prepared to defect to reform. Of course, he would be bigging up his partys prospects, but he made a direct implication in the press Conference Today that there are labour mps in talk with reform. I think Something Else which really struck me from today is the conservatives keep trying to sort of get across the message that if you vote for reform, it is simply a vote for labour. The idea is that the reform will end up splitting the conservative vote and handing seats to laboun vote and handing seats to labour. Now that might well be true in wellingborough, for example, if every single voter who voted for reform in that by election had voted for the conservatives, said the conservatives, instead said the conservatives, instead said the conservatives would have won. Conservatives, instead said the conzitsatives would have won. Conservatives, instead said the conzits becomingld have won. Conservatives, instead said the conzits becoming increasingly. But its becoming increasingly clear that reform dont really care about that. What richard care about that. What richard tice said when i asked him if a vote for reform was a vote for laboun vote for reform was a vote for labour, he said the two main parties are exactly the same. We need something completely different and its quite possible that voters will feel the same. Theyll feel that perhaps the conservatives no longer have a sort of god given right to the conservative vote. So that threat from reform is feeling pretty real. And even if it does end up in just splitting the conservative vote, even if reform ends in winning very reform ends up in winning very few seats in a general election, thats hardly a consolation to the conservative party or to reform. And olivia, hearing that as many as nine conservative mps are in advanced talks with reform party, thats a source close to the reform party. Any idea who they might be . Who those nine conservatives might be . Well, there are there are those whove been on sort of reform watch for a while. There are those whove written their letters of no confidence into to rishi sunak someone like andrea jenkyns, perhaps, who has been a very, vocal about her very, very vocal about her dislike of the Prime Minister. There was , of course, simon there was, of course, simon clarke, who said that a former truss minister who said that we were that the conservatives were heading for the iceberg and he was the whistleblower who was calling that out. Perhaps someone that could be someone like that could be persuaded to defect to reform. Then there are also the characters, you know, the, the, the, those solid right of centre conservative mps who have been very, very vocal on immigration for a long time now. Suella braverman clearly isnt happy with the direction that her party is going on immigration. All of those people, though, have said that they are have said so far that they are not planning to defect to reform. , lee anderson reform. That said, lee anderson said just a few weeks ago that he wasnt planning to defect to reform, i guess well to reform, so i guess well have to watch wait. Im fascinated watch and wait. Im fascinated to richard tice to see if richard tice prediction labour mps could prediction that labour mps could defect will actually turn out to amount to anything. Well no, its a fascinating question, but for now, olivia utley, thank you very much. Very much. Live from that room where it all happened morning. Lets all happened this morning. Lets peak now with the Political Correspondent spectator, correspondent at the spectator, james heal. And james. What does this mean . Going forward for the conservative party . They have now dipped by some measures below 20 points in the polls and reform is creeping up. Reform is creeping up. Well, today made it much harder for rishi sunak to pretend that he is going to be the only right wing candidate in this forthcoming general election. It splits the right of british politics. It means that reform now have a spokesman within parliament, and it therefore makes the media speculation one about splits, defections and potentially reform being a big thorn in the side of the conservatives. Rather than doing what rishi sunak wants, which is taking the fight to the labour party and making this a two horse making this really a two horse race him. Between and race with him. Between him and keir starmer. Been a bad keir starmer. So its been a bad day rishi sunak, not least day for rishi sunak, not least because ago he because just 12 months ago he made deputy chairman. Made him deputy party chairman. A bit own goal, isnt a bit of an own goal, isnt it . It . Well, it is for rishi sunak in the sense that, you know, there was always a sense with, with lee anderson was a bit of a mercurial, player on the pitch. He on the one hand was a very straight talking and that could cause issues him as the day cause issues for him as the day he appointed deputy he was appointed deputy chairman, out and chairman, he came out and supported, punishment supported, Capital Punishment in an the spectator. An interview with the spectator. But other was but on the other hand, he was very popular within the party and lot of the and doing a lot of the associations going around the country. Love country. A lot of mps love having their patch, having him speak in their patch, and danger is, of course, is and the danger is, of course, is that defecting, he could that by him defecting, he could split in of split the party in terms of activists at time when its activists at a time when its already very already feeling very disheartened be disheartened and really be a massive wedge issue. At massive sort of wedge issue. At a when the conservatives a time when the conservatives are, you say, tom, are, as you say, tom, potentially 20 in the polls. So could be most so this could be most damaging the grassroots damaging at the grassroots level. But lets say its true that there are nine conservative mps in advanced talks with reform uk. If those potentially defected, can the conservative party really call itself a broad church . It always says that it is. It always says it has all versions of conservatism. But if, you know, potentially that many defect, then, is that no longer true . Longer true . I think we should take a note of scepticism on reform. Talk about defections. Theyve said so for years. It was part of the brexit party and ukip playbook. Often there was a lot talk. Often there was a lot of talk. There were defections. Of there were some defections. Of course, they tend to be far course, but they tend to be far less the amounted to, less than the talk amounted to, so see with so ill wait to see with interest if reports of those nine materialise, what i will nine do materialise, what i will say is we see where those areas are actually are i mean, are they going to be in seats of majorities less than 5000, or are going be in blue are they going to be in blue wall of 25,000 . I wall areas of 25,000 . And i think be of interest. Think that will be of interest. I rishi sunak has clearly i think rishi sunak has clearly staked on blue staked his future on the blue wall keep some sort wall of trying to keep some sort of the polls than of 30 of the polls rather than sort know , get back sort of, you know, get back together, the 2019 coalition. So i will be interested to see who they if real