Lee Anderson

Lee Anderson

MP
Official portrait, 2019
Chief Whip of Reform UK in the House of Commons
Assumed office
11 July 2024
LeaderNigel Farage
Preceded byPosition established
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byGloria De Piero
Majority5,509 (13.8%)
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office
7 February 2023 – 16 January 2024
LeaderRishi Sunak
Preceded byMatt Vickers
Succeeded byJames Daly
Personal details
Born (1967-01-06) 6 January 1967 (age 59)
Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England
Political partyReform UK (2024–present)
Other political
affiliations		Labour (1983–2018)
Conservative (2018–2024)
Spouse(s)Sinead Anderson
Children2

Lee Anderson (born 6 January 1967) is a British politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2019. He has been a member of Reform UK since 11 March 2024. He was a member of the Conservative Party, and was a Deputy Chairman of it from February 2023 to January 2024.

Before he was a politician he was a coal miner. He has also worked for Citizens Advice. His political career started in 2015 when he was elected as a Labour Party councillor for Huthwaite and Brierley ward of the Ashfield District [en]. He was suspended from the Labour party in 2018 over a dispute about the Traveller community (Roma people). After his suspension he defected to the Conservative Party. In 2019 he was elected as the councillor for the Oakham ward of the Mansfield District Council [en]. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in 2019. He stopped being a councillor in 2021. He continued being a MP. In January 2024, Anderson resigned, along with Brendan Clarke-Smith, as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, in order to vote for an amendment on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The amendment, put forward by Bill Cash, would "ensure UK and international law could not be used to prevent or delay a person being removed to Rwanda."

Anderson had his Conservative parliamentary whip suspended on 24 January 2024, after saying that "Islamists" controlled London. He joined Reform UK on 11 March 2024, becoming their first MP.

References

  1. ↑ "Election results for Ashfield Constituency". Ashfield District Council. Archived from the original on 6 July 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  2. ↑ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "District Ward Results 2015". Ashfield District Council. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Councillor suspended by Ashfield Labour Group". Chad. 14 February 2018. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "Nottinghamshire Labour councillors quit to join Tories". BBC News. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Spridgeon, Dale (17 March 2021). "Ashfield MP Lee Anderson quits as Mansfield councillor". Chad. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Ashfield selects it's next MP Candidate". Ashfield & Mansfield Conservatives. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  8. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67999810
  9. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/16/tory-deputy-chairs-resign-lee-anderson-brendan-clarke-smith-rishi-sunak
  10. ↑ "Lee Anderson: MP suspended from Tory party over 'Islamists' comments". BBC News. 2024-02-24. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  11. ↑ "Ex-Tory MP Lee Anderson defects to Reform". BBC News. 2024-03-11. Retrieved 2024-03-11.