Anderson filmed paid-for Cameo videos in Parliament and offered users tours of Parliament, which also risks breaching Parliamentary rules
Reform MP Lee Anderson may have broken parliamentary rules by recording paid-for Cameo videos from his office in Westminster.
The Guardian has reported that Anderson filmed paid-for messages for Cameo users on Valentine’s Day this year from his office in Parliament.
He sold two of the Valentine’s Day messages for £45 and £56 via the video messaging app Cameo, which enables the public to commission short clips from celebrities and public figures.
Anderson filmed the messages from his parliamentary office, which could amount to a breach of rules prohibiting commercial filming in the Palace of Westminster.
The Reform MP for Ashfield already breached these rules once back in 2023, when he recorded a promotional clip for his GB News programme from the roof of the House of Commons.
After the finding against him by the standards commissioner in September 2023, Anderson apologised and promised he would not create commercial videos on the parliamentary estate again.
In one of the clips, Anderson recorded a Valentine’s day message to “Steve”, a Reform member and voter.
In the video, Anderson says he is speaking from “the beating heart of democracy in Westminster”. “Make sure you treat the missus to something really nice and hopefully get you down here to Westminster one day and come and say hello to Reform UK. Have a good one, fella,” the Reform MP says.
In another Cameo video recorded in Parliament, Anderson records “a very special” Valentine’s day message from a user called “Gary”. In the message, Anderson tells the recipient that “Gary” worships her, before saying at the end “He also says get back in the kitchen and get some food on and get them pots done”.
In a third clip, Anderson told “Scotty” to “get your act together” for Valentine’s Day.
“The flowers that you sent her last year, I’ve been told you got them from the local cemetery on the way back from the pub after you had one too many,” he said. “She doesn’t want flowers, mate. She wants a cruise. Sort yourself out, you pathetic man. All the best,” Anderson added.
A spokesperson for Anderson told The Guardian: “Lee Anderson has not earned a single penny from Cameo. One-hundred per cent of the money he receives from the platform is donated directly to a male suicide charity.”
In six other videos which were not filmed in Westminster, Anderson offers Cameo users tours of Parliament.
These videos also risk breaching MPs’ rules, as MPs are not allowed to offer tours of parliament as “a prize or reward for fundraising or for any other kind of benefit”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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