Lee Anderson (British politician)
Lee Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Ashfield | |
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Gloria De Piero |
| Majority | 5,733 (11.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Occupation | Politician |
Lee Anderson is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2019.
Career
Anderson, a former coal miner, 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[1]. Anderson also worked as office manager for the Ashfield Labour MP at the time, Gloria De Piero, having campaigned alongside her in the 2015 and 2017 UK General Elections. Unlike the majority of the Ashfield Labour Party, Anderson was a vocal Brexiteer having supported the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 EU Referendum. His views on Europe as well as his opposition to Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party led to him and his family becoming subjects of abuse from hard-left Momentum activists within the party[2]. This drove Anderson to defect to the Conservatives in March 2018[3], later being elected as the Conservative councillor for the Oakham ward in Mansfield, a neighbouring district.
In July 2019 he was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Ashfield[4]. He was elected as a Conservative MP in the 2019 General Election, succeeding his former boss, Gloria De Piero, who stood down before the election[5]. This made Anderson the first Ashfield MP to be born and raised in the area having won with a majority of 5,733 votes, with the Ashfield Independent Party candidate, Jason Zadrozny trailing behind in second place. Having won this seat for the Conservative Party, his former party fell into third place in Ashfield. This was the first time that the Conservatives had won the former Labour heartland since the 1970s.
During the election he made controversial statements where in the wake of a murder on Carsic council estate, he suggested nuisance tenants should live in tents.[6] He was also caught setting up a staged door-knock encounter with a friend whilst being filmed by Michael Crick [7], which he has since apologised for[8]. He was accused by The Guardian of antisemitism on the grounds that he was an active member of a Facebook group in which other members of said group had posted questionable content.[9][10]
References
- ^ https://www.ashfield.gov.uk/your-council/elections/past-elections/election-results-2015/district-ward-results-2015/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . Daily Mail. 19/11/2019 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7699985/How-far-Lefts-vile-hate-drove-working-Labour-MP-standing-Tory.html.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . BBC News. 20/03/2018 [Nottinghamshire Labour councillors quit to join Tories http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-43471848 Nottinghamshire Labour councillors quit to join Tories http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-43471848].
{{cite news}}: Check|url=value (help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . Chad. 03/07/2019 https://www.chad.co.uk/news/people/mansfield-councillor-aims-become-ashfields-mp-958605.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ . Chad. 20/07/2019 https://www.chad.co.uk/news/politics/ashfield-mp-gloria-de-piero-stand-down-next-general-election-953005.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "'Nuisance' council tenants 'should live in tents' says Ashfield Tory candidate". BBC News. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Ashfield's Conservative candidate Lee Anderson caught setting up door-knock with friendly voter". www.chad.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
- ^ https://soundcloud.com/mansfield-103-2/ashfield-general-election-debate.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Tories probe candidates over anti-Semitism claims". December 7, 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ Mendel, Jack. "Two Tories win seats despite investigations over antisemitism". jewishnews.timesofisrael.com.
External links
   | This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a British member of Parliament elected at the 2019 general election or a subsequent by-election is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |