A former coal miner and Labour councillor, Mr Anderson defected to the Tories in 2018 and a year later was elected as MP for the Nottinghamshire seat of Ashfield.
His decision to quit his senior party role over the Rwanda plan could prove troublesome for Mr Sunak, who had been relying on the “Red Wall Rottweiler” to help him win the next election by appealing to the Right of the party.
At the time, Mr Anderson said he quit alongside Brendan Clarke-Smith, a fellow deputy chairman, because he was unable to vote for something he did not “believe in”.
But asked if he would return to his old role if approached by Mr Sunak, he said: “Yeah, of course I would.”
He added: “I did wrong. Well I say I did wrong, I acted on a point of principle. I had to resign. I had no choice. I bear no malice or anything, it’s just I know the rules.”
Only spoken to Sunak ‘in passing’
Mr Anderson said both Mr Sunak and Simon Hart, the chief whip, have “been fine with me” since the Rwanda vote, but they have only spoken “in passing”.
Despite his reservations about the legislation, Mr Anderson said he was confident the Rwanda scheme would succeed in stopping the boats once flights got off the ground.
Asked about the prospect of further legal battles holding up the plan, he said: “I think we should just ignore the courts, personally.”
He also played down reports of disgruntled Tory colleagues submitting letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister, insisting there was “no chance” of Mr Sunak being removed before the next election.
“Read my lips: no chance,” he said.
Mr Anderson added: “He’s got a plan, we’ve got to stick to the plan, haven’t we? Rishi’s got a plan. I mean, Rishi’s working with inflation, he’s working with the debt. It looks like we’ve got some tax cuts coming in March. You know, if we start putting money back in people’s pockets, their attitudes can change very, very quickly.”
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