Yeah, I mean more in terms of him being parody of what the Tories think a working class northerner is. Ignorant, thick, bigoted, uneducated. They hold up Anderson as some kind of poster boy of the working class, a demographic they wouldn't piss on.
I think he acts like a parody- but it's made easier for him because he has some belief in a lot of what he says.
This is a son of a miner, who also went down the pits and took industrial action later (post-the Miner's Strike). I don't know if he was an NUM member or the 'scab' UDM. But he knows what it's like to live on the breadline, has been a volunteer for CAB and homeless charities. Worked for the Labour MP and was a Labour councillor himself.
He's actually a lot like many traditional Labour voters - socially/culturally pretty conservative/right-wing (as in, small-minded, fearful of cultural change, easily flip to blaming minorities when things go a bit bad)
His [anti-]Damascene moment seems to have been when he took up the case of blocking Travellers setting up on a neighbouring field. He seems to have got no support from his fellow Labour councillors (indeed, some scorn instead) and took it upon himself to have boulders placed to block the entrance.... following which he was charged with fly-tipping!
In his eyes - and the eyes of many/most - he was doing a public service to prevent the incursion of a group of people that frequently cause damage to the locality and bring petty crime and anti-social behaviour. Yet he is the one who is prosecuted - not the 'horrible' people he was trying to stop harming his neighbourhood. And, furthermore, if he speaks out against the travellers and their behaviours, he's the one demonised.
There's also a decent possibility that he spotted how the political winds were blowing when he switched to the Tories in 2018. He'd almost certainly had some contact with them before then and they viewed his recruitment as a no-lose gambit. His status as the Labour-man-turned-Tory and 'no nonsense' comments have helped his grift - and a lucrative slot on GBeebies.
So, whilst I think he does believe all/most of the stuff he says, he exaggerates it to cement his status and keep the grift going.