Lee Anderson Takes Issue With Avocados In Bizarre St George's Day Post
Lee Anderson has faced ridicule for a social media post celebrating St George’s Day – where some dodgy spelling was arguably the least of the problems.
The former Tory deputy chairman announced in March that he was switching to Reform UK following the fall-out from saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.
The Ashfield MP already has a history of making controversial statements – he has argued food bank users “cannot budget” and criticised England footballers for taking the knee. Last summer he said migrants should “fuck off back to France”.
Now free of the governing party, “30p Lee” on Tuesday posted a special message to mark the day that celebrates the dragon-slayer of legend and England’s patron saint.
He wrote in an X message introducing a video: “Trigger Warning.
“If you are a Guardian reading, advacado eating, Palestinian flag waving, Eddie Izzard supporting Vegan then this clip is probably not for your consumption.
“Happy St George’s Day!”
Note the spelling “advacado”.
In an accompanying video, he points to his St George’s flag cufflinks and says: “Look at these here look, flag of St George.
“It’s St George’s Day today and this country of ours has been a gift to the world. Look at the industrial revolution, culture, art, music, sports.
“Everywhere you look on this planet, you see some of that. Oh by the way, happy birthday William Shakespeare.”
But many had problems with his interpretation of, well, most of it.
The website of English Heritage, the charitable trust that looks after the national heritage, points out that St George was born in what is now Turkey, and died in a Roman province of Palestine.
The Christian martyr St George, who is the patron saint of Georgia and Portugal among others, is also a “Palestinian hero”.
It’s this background that informed many of the mocking responses to Anderson’s post.
He thinks eating avocados makes you Un-British. https://t.co/ktU0jprGJT
— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) April 23, 2024
Dressed like a toddler at a wedding https://t.co/0rhNZRSsHh
— Joe Barton (@JoeBarton_) April 23, 2024
Lee, I'm just playing devil's advacado here: but wasn't St George from Palestine, where they eat a lot of avocados? https://t.co/5yrAEQYE3t
— HENRY MORRIS (@mrhenrymorris) April 23, 2024
"Do you know what an Advacado is?" pic.twitter.com/Sq4FjwgbAI
— Lucie Fur (@Lucie_Fur99) April 23, 2024
doesn’t get more St George-y than waving a Palestinian flag (and he’d probably spell avocado correctly, too) https://t.co/S7V81LCMWf
— Susie Beever (@SusieMayJourno) April 23, 2024
The great thing - and I mean truly great thing about that Lee Anderson Tweet is the fact he spells “avocado” “advocado”.
— Matt Owen (@MJowen174) April 23, 2024
What is an advacado and can I buy one for 30p? https://t.co/qY2dCh3qke
— Marina Purkiss (@MarinaPurkiss) April 23, 2024
Lee Anderson speaks of the gifts that England has given the world on St George's Day. What a shame he failed to mention the English language. It's probably because he's not quite mastered it. "Advacado", anyone? pic.twitter.com/wfn97S0p2M
— Snigdha (@snigskitchen) April 23, 2024
Scoop: former Tory deputy chairman picks a fight with an avocado, or rather, an advacado (sic).🥑 pic.twitter.com/JsJmB0bsAW
— Dr Annie Hickox (@DrAnnieHickox) April 23, 2024
The Ashfield MP already has a history of making controversial statements – he has argued food bank users “cannot budget” and criticised England footballers for taking the knee. Last summer he said migrants should “fuck off back to France”.