Lee Anderson was secretly recorded boasting he was offered "a lot of money" to quit the Tories and join Nigel Farage's Reform UK party.
The Conservative Deputy Chairman was taped making the claim at a "Lagers with Lee" gathering at Cambridge Rugby Club in October. He said Reform UK, which was founded by the ex-Ukip leader, wanted the Tories to "get hammered in the next election" as he ranted about a vote for the party being a vote for Labour.
In the recording leaked to the Sunday Times, an activist told Mr Anderson he won't vote Conservative at the next election but another party such as Reform. The Tory MP responded: “Now there is a political party that begins with an R that offered me a lot of money to join them. I say a lot of money, I mean a lot of money.”
Reform leader Richard Tice said today that he had held talks with a number of Tory MPs and ministers angry about the Government's handling of immigration - but said "no cash or money has in any way been offered".
In the audio, Mr Anderson said Reform UK "don't care about this country at all" and accused the people involved of being "mad". He claimed the party wants a proportional representation system so they can win seats in parliament as he said he believed they would win "zero seats" at the next election.
"Now all they want, Reform, and I spoke to the leaders of Reform, they want PR, which is proportional representation. They are hell bent and want us to get hammered in the next election, because they firmly believe that Labour will bring in PR," Mr Anderson said.
"But the Labour Party won’t do that. This is what Reform wants. They don’t care about this country at all. They are mad, these people. For a party to want that to happen, they don’t care about this country. All they want is a bit of power in parliament."
Mr Tice claimed Mr Anderson had used the threat to negotiate himself a plum role as Tory Deputy Chairman earlier this year. “Desperate Tories will make desperate lies to save their skin,” he told the paper.
Mr Anderson hit back saying the accusation he had sought to gain leverage was "simply ridiculous". But he confirmed reports he'd been offered a guarantee if he stood for Reform UK but lost his seat at an election, the party would pay five years of his MP salary. This would be five times £86,584 so approximately £430,000.
In a statement, he said: “From time to time politicians do meet other politicians from different political parties. At one such meeting I was offered the chance to join another party for the following deal - I join within a few months and stand for this Party at the next election.
"If I lost my seat I would be guaranteed a job with the party for 5 years on the same salary as an MP. To falsely claim that I used this as leverage to get the position of Deputy Chairman is an insult to me and my party."
It comes after reports emerged that Mr Anderson had informed the Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart in February this year about the offer. Mr Hoyle reportedly wants Mr Hart to hand any details of Mr Anderson's case to the police to be investigated.
A spokesman for Reform UK described the Tory MP as a “plank” and denied the party had any money to “do anything dodgy … not that it would do anything dodgy”. The source added: “We might be able to buy him a pint but that’s about it. This is all about damaging Reform UK at a time when we are surging in the polls. The Tories are terrified because they can see Reform UK is likely to take more votes from them than Labour and they are facing a potential wipeout.”
Mr Farage is proving a thorn in the Tories' side. The Brexit architect, who is currently featuring on ITV's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, has said he “might be interested in having another go [at becoming an MP] at some point”, as well as that he would be “very surprised” if he were not Tory leader by 2026.
In October, the by-elections of Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth revealed the extent of Reform UK's threat to the Tories. In both by-elections, the vote share for Reform UK came out larger than the Labour majority. It means the Tories would have won both seats had voters on the right of the party not voted for Reform.
The Conservatives continue to struggle to turn their dire poll ratings around. A poll by Opinium this weekend revealed Labour gained some ground during the week of Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement. Keir Starmer's party now leads by 16 points, with its vote share increased by 2 points to 42%, while the Conservatives dropped 1 point and are on 26%. It is a blow to Rishi Sunak who will have been hoping the announcements of tax cuts would have given his party a boost.
It comes as figures revealed this week that UK net migration hit a record breaking 745,000 last year - more than three times higher than promised by the Tories in their election manifesto. Cabinet minister Laura Trott insisted she was not worried about the Reform UK party outflanking the Conservatives from the right.
"I'd be very clear that a vote for Reform or any other party which is not Conservative is a vote for Keir Starmer as prime minister,” she told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips. "But what I would say is one of the reasons it's so important for me to come on shows like yours is for us to communicate as a government what we are doing to stop the boats."