Why can't I use "return" in lambda function in python?

Question

This does not work:

print((lambda :  return None)()) 

But this does:

print((lambda :  None)()) 

Why?

Answer 1

Because return is a statement. Lambdas can only contain expressions.

Answer 2

lambda functions automatically return an expression. They cannot contain statements. return None is a statement and therefore cannot work. None is an expression and therefore works.