Conservatives complain to whips about fellow MP’s comments on legally settled people

Exclusive: Criticism of Katie Lam comes amid widespread confusion in the party over its policy on indefinite leave to remain

Conservative MPs have complained to party whips after Katie Lam said many legally settled people should be deported to make the UK “culturally coherent”, the Guardian has learned.

Lam, who is seen as a rising Tory star, said last weekend she believed “a large number of people” living legally in the UK should have their right to stay revoked and “go home”. “What that will leave is a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people,” she told the Sunday Times.