Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Chief Whip of Reform UK in the House of Commons | |
| Assumed office 11 July 2024 | |
| Leader | Nigel Farage |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of Parliament for Ashfield | |
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Gloria De Piero |
| Majority | 5,509 (13.8%) |
| Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
| In office 7 February 2023 – 16 January 2024 | |
| Leader | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Matt Vickers |
| Succeeded by | James Daly |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 January 1967 Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Political party | Reform UK (2024–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (1983–2018) Conservative (2018–2024) |
| Spouse(s) | Sinead Anderson |
| Children | 2 |
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. 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. 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.