Lee Anderson (British politician)

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Lee Anderson

MP
Official portrait of Lee Anderson MP crop 2.jpg
Anderson in 2019
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byGloria De Piero
Majority5,733 (11.7%)
Personal details
Born (1967-01-06) 6 January 1967 (age 54)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative (from March 2018)
Other political
affiliations		Labour (until March 2018)
Spouse(s)Sinead[1]
Children2
EducationAshfield School[2]
OccupationPolitician
Websitewww.leeanderson.org.uk

Lee Anderson (born 6 January 1967)[3] is a British Conservative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2019. He was a Labour councillor in Ashfield, before defecting to the Conservative Party and becoming a councillor in Mansfield.

Early life and education[]

Anderson was born in the Ashfield area, attending John Davies Primary School and Ashfield School.[1]

Career[]

After leaving school, Anderson studied Shipping Management at Nottingham Technical College, before becoming a coal miner. He was a long-time Labour Party member, and served as a councillor in the Huthwaite and Brierly ward of Ashfield, where he was elected in 2015.[4] Anderson also worked as office manager for Ashfield's then-Labour MP, Gloria De Piero, having campaigned alongside her for the 2015 and 2017 UK general elections. Anderson was a vocal Brexiteer, having supported the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 EU Referendum.

While serving as a Labour councillor on Ashfield Council in 2018, he was suspended by the party locally for allegedly dumping boulders to block access to a local camp site. He was later given a community protection notice over the action, and instructed to remove the boulders.[5]

He defected to the Conservatives in March 2018,[6] later being elected as the Conservative councillor for the Oakham ward in Mansfield, a neighbouring district, following the May 2019 local elections.[citation needed]

In July 2019, he was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Ashfield.[7] He was elected as a Conservative MP at the 2019 general election, succeeding his former boss, Gloria De Piero, who stood down before the election.[8] Anderson won with a majority of 5,733 votes, with the Ashfield Independent Party candidate Jason Zadrozny coming in second place, and Labour dropping into third place. This was the first time that the Conservatives had won the seat since the 1977 by-election.[citation needed]

During the 2019 general election campaign, in the wake of a murder on the Carsic council estate in his constituency, Anderson said that certain "nuisance" council tenants were "making people's lives a complete misery". He said: "Let's have [the tenants] in the field, picking potatoes or any other seasonal vegetables, back in the tent, cold shower, lights out, six o'clock, same again the next day."[9] He was criticised by the Labour Party, who said the idea amounted to "forced labour camps".[9]

Anderson was also caught setting up a staged door-knock encounter with a friend whilst being filmed by Channel 4 News reporter Michael Crick. Prior to the staged visit, Anderson told the man he arranged to meet to "make out you know who I am, that you know I'm the candidate but not that you are a friend".[10] Anderson justified his actions by stating that he "had been trying to make sure that somebody was in", before apologising several weeks later.[11]

Anderson was one of three Conservative Party candidates investigated by the party over claims of anti-Semitism during the election campaign.[12] The investigation was opened on the grounds that he was an active member of a Facebook group in which other members supported Tommy Robinson and promoted George Soros conspiracy theories.[13][14] Whilst under investigation, he was confronted by the head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism over a letter he co-signed, published by the Daily Telegraph, which employed the phrase "Cultural Marxism".[15]

In February 2021, Anderson was criticised by Ashfield District Council leader Jason Zadrozny of the Ashfield Independents, who described Anderson's behavior as "consistently disappointing" and stated that he called for the government to scrap Ashfield's Future High Streets’ Fund bid as he was concerned that this would result in the Ashfield Independents receiving praise.[16]

In June 2021, Anderson announced that he would not be watching the England national football team at UEFA Euro 2020 due to the players taking the knee against racism before matches. Anderson said: "For the first time in my life I will not be watching my beloved England team whilst they are supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life."[17] After the England team won their semi-final match of the competition Anderson confirmed that he would not be watching them play in the final. He stated: "I will always support my country in all sports and am delighted the team are through to the final."[18]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "About Lee Anderson". Lee Anderson.
  2. ^ Hill, Henry (21 January 2020). "Boris' Boys and Girls: The Conservative Commons Intake of 2019". Conservative Home. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  3. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  4. ^ "District Ward Results 2015". Ashfield District Council. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Councillor suspended by Ashfield Labour Group". www.chad.co.uk. 14 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Nottinghamshire Labour councillors quit to join Tories". BBC. BBC News. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  7. ^ Andrews, Danielle. "Mansfield councillor aims to become Ashfield's MP". Chad. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  8. ^ Dingwall, Ed (20 July 2019). "Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero to stand down before next General Election". Chad. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "'Nuisance' council tenants 'should live in tents' says Ashfield Tory candidate". BBC News. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Ashfield's Conservative candidate Lee Anderson caught setting up door-knock with friendly voter". www.chad.co.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2019.[dead link]
  11. ^ "Ashfield candidate faces criticism over 'fake door knock'". BBC News. 26 November 2019.
  12. ^ "General election 2019: Tories probe candidates over anti-Semitism claims". BBC News. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  13. ^ Proctor, Kate (7 December 2019). "Tories investigate three candidates over alleged antisemitism". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  14. ^ Mendel, Jack (13 December 2019). "Two Tories win seats despite investigations over antisemitism". Jewish News. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  15. ^ Tory MPs and peers warned over use of the term 'cultural Marxism', The Jewish Chronicle. 24 November 2020
  16. ^ Taylor, Katrina (16 February 2021). "Council leader asks MP Lee Anderson to put 'Ashfield people before politics'". Mansfield and Ashfield Chad. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  17. ^ Locker, Joseph (5 June 2021). "Nottinghamshire MP Lee Anderson will not watch 'beloved England' in Euro 2020 after players take knee". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  18. ^ Holland, Harmony (5 July 2021). "Ashfield MP Lee Anderson responds to whether he regrets boycotting watching England in Euro 2020". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Gloria De Piero 		Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
2019–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""