Is Lee Anderson shaming quiet man Farage?

“Reform v Labour,” posted Lee Anderson on X today. “I’m surrounded by Labour MPs in Nottinghamshire but they’re not very noisy neighbours in Parliament. Check out how many times they have spoken in Parliament since the election.”

Cue a chart showing Anderson’s chopsiness in the Commons chamber relative to some of his neighbouring MPs – and Anderson, to be fair, has been more active. But might such boasting about his contributions also have the effect of shaming one of his colleagues on Reform’s Commons half-bench?

Anderson has spoken 64 times in the chamber since last July’s general election. That compares to 20 for his leader, Nigel Farage. He has tabled 167 written questions to ministers in that time, compared to Farage’s 20. And while Anderson has voted 56 times in this Parliament, Farage has only managed it 37 times – including missing the vote on his own hobby-horse of a smoking ban, in order to present his very lucrative sideline of a GB News show.

Why on Earth would 30p Lee wish to draw public attention to his own leader’s lack of work ethic on behalf of his constituents?