Grassroots Tory activists back Lee Anderson and say Sunak is a 'snake'

Grassroots Conservative supporters have branded Rishi Sunak a "snake" over Lee Anderson's suspension as MPs on the Tory right said he should be given a route back in.

- Eleni Courea, Ben Quinn & Pippa Crerar

In leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by the Guardian, members of the Conservative Democratic Organisation, founded by disgruntled Tories after Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were ousted, attacked the prime minister for kicking Anderson out of the parliamentary party.

Several activists endorsed Anderson's comments and some went further in decrying "the threat of Islam." Anderson, who was a deputy Tory chair until last month, was suspended from the party whip on Saturday after he refused to apologise for saying Islamists had "got control of" Sadiq Khan. Anderson claimed on GB News that the London mayor had "given our capital city away to his mates".

Several Tory MPs said yesterday they would like to see Anderson readmitted if he apologised. Jonathan Gullis told Times Radio: "I hope that we will see him return to that party sooner rather than later but of course, he has to, I think, make that apology to Mayor Khan." Another Conservative MP said: "He wants to come back.

We want him back." The leaked CDO WhatsApp messages show the fury with which Anderson's suspension was met by grassroots Tories. The CDO contains.