Lee Anderson has corrected a Labour councillor in an eight word-long dig amid a row about migrant hotels. Mr Anderson had shared a tweet from Reform UK where the outfit included an edited video from 2022 in which now Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick discussed opening migrant hotels.

The doctored footage was shared with the comment: "This is the video from 2022 that [Robert Jenrick] doesn't want you to see. It would be a shame if you shared it". Reform's post on X was retweeted 591 times and racked up over 135,000 views.

The outfit has been busy attacking the Conservative Party over the part it played in using hotels to house asylum seekers while it was in government. Mr Jenrick was immigration minister in former prime minister Rishi Sunak's administration.

Mr Anderson was elected Tory MP for Ashfield in 2019, but defected to Reform UK in March 2024 after he saw the whip suspended for saying Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had given the city away to Islamists. Reform's first MP, Mr Anderson was re-elected at last year's general election.

Sharing Reform's tweet, Mr Anderson sought to distance himself from his former party. He wrote: "Whilst I was asking government to detain in secure camps and detain illegal migrants ready for deportation this is what government was actually doing.

"The last Conservative government started this problem so its a bit rich for them now to start their attacks on migrant hotels.

"I spoke up from day one and was constantly told by the One Nation lot to shut up. This is of their making and every one of them should apologise right now".

In response, Alan Rhodes, a Labour councillor at Bassetlaw District Council, said: "You were part of that government Lee".

To which Mr Anderson shot back in eight words that Mr Rhodes has "never been the sharpest knife in the kitchen", adding: "I've never been part of any government.

"If you don't know the difference between a minister and a backbench MP then you really need to carry on with the crayons".

Fellow X-users hailed Mr Anderson's put down, with one replying: "Spot on, Lee. Some folk don't seem to grasp the basics of politics but are quick to lecture everyone else. Keep telling it straight".

But another wrote: "As a Conservative MP your seat, your vote, your whip sustained the majority. Without you and your colleagues, there is no Government. You don’t get to disown that responsibility when it suits".

Mr Jenrick and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have repeatedly clashed online in recent days. Mr Farage tweeted on Wednesday that the Tory MP was "no friend of Epping" and had overseen a rise in "illegal migrants" to 56,000 "living rent free" in hotels.

The Conservative MP for Newark was on Sunday in the Essex town which has seen protests and counter-protests over the use of The Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers.

Mr Jenrick responded to Mr Farage's attacks: "If I knew standing with the people of Epping on Sunday was going to rattle you so much, I’d have offered you a lift! But seriously, the country’s in a mess and you’re wasting time pushing (Reform UK's former chair) Zia’s (Yusuf) doctored videos?

"This interview (1st Nov ‘22) is about the Manston migrant holding centre collapsing. It was 3x over capacity and there’d just been a firebomb. I was reassuring people it wasn’t going to collapse. I was 7 days into the job.

"What was I saying about hotels then? 'It is essential that we exit the hotels altogether' (7th Nov ‘22). I then spent the year fighting with (former home secretary) Suella Braverman to override human rights conventions so we could detain and deport all illegal migrants. Why not focus on (Prime Minister Sir Keir) Starmer and the country, instead of pushing false and petty c**p?"