Lee Anderson | |
---|---|
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%)[1] |
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 | Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England | 6 January 1967
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)[2] 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 .[3] He was suspended from the Labour party in 2018 over a dispute about the Traveller community (Roma people).[4] After his suspension he defected to the Conservative Party.[5] In 2019 he was elected as the councillor for the Oakham ward of the Mansfield District Council .[6] He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in 2019.[7] 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.[8] 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."[9]
Anderson had his Conservative parliamentary whip suspended on 24 January 2024, after saying that "Islamists" controlled London.[10] He joined Reform UK on 11 March 2024, becoming their first MP.[11]