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Lee Anderson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| 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 forAshfield | |
| 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 | (1967-01-06)6 January 1967 (age 58) Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Political party | Reform UK (2024–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (1983–2018) Conservative (2018–2024) |
| Spouse | Sinead Anderson |
| Children | 2 |
| Occupation | Politician and TV presenter |
Lee Anderson (born 6 January 1967) is a British politician and television presenter who has served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forAshfield since2019. A member ofReform UK, he has served as itsChief Whip since July 2024.[2] Anderson was elected in 2019 as a member of theConservative Party, but defected to Reform UK in March 2024 afterhaving the whip suspended. He became the party's first MP, and was subsequently elected for Reform UK at the2024 general election.
Anderson was a deputychairman of the Conservative Party underRishi Sunak from February 2023 to January 2024. He resigned to vote against the government on an amendment relating to theRwanda asylum plan. In February 2024, he had the Conservative whip suspended after declining to apologise for stating that "Islamists" had "got control" ofSadiq Khan andKeir Starmer.
Before his parliamentary career, Anderson was a coal-miner and worked for theCitizens Advice Bureau. He was elected as a Labour Party councillor in theAshfield District in 2015. Suspended by Labour in 2018, he defected to the Conservative Party later that year and was a Conservative councillor inMansfield from 2019 to 2021 concurrently with his term as an MP. He was elected for Reform UK at the 2024 general election.
Lee Anderson was born on 6 January 1967, in Kings Mill HospitalSutton-in-Ashfield,Nottinghamshire.[3] His father Paul was acoal miner, while his mother Jenny worked in a clothing factory. Lee, along with his sisters Lisa and Paula, were brought up inHuthwaite, Nottinghamshire.[4] He attended John Davies Primary School andAshfield School.[5][6]
In his youth, Anderson was a member ofArthur Scargill'sNational Union of Mineworkers and campaigned for theLabour Party'sMichael Foot in the1983 general election. He cites Scargill,Dennis Skinner, andTony Benn as important influences on his early political beliefs.[7]
Anderson worked as a coal miner for ten years, before volunteering with, and eventually working forCitizens Advice for another ten years.[8][9] Afterwards, he worked in hostels supporting homeless care leavers.[10][11]
Anderson was a long-time member of the Labour Party, and was elected as a Labour councillor in the2015Ashfield District Council election, representingHuthwaite and Brierley ward.[12] He was suspended by the local branch of the Labour Party in February 2018 after receiving acommunity-protection warning by the council for using boulders to block members of theTraveller community from "setting up camp at a site in the area".[13] Anderson defected to theConservative Party the following month, which he stated was in response to the "takeover" of the Labour Party by thehard left, particularly through the left-wing political organisationMomentum.[14] He was elected as a Conservative councillor onMansfield District Council, representing the Oakham ward between2019 and 2021.[15]
In July 2019, Anderson was selected as the Conservative candidate forAshfield for the2019 general election.[16] He had supportedBrexit in the2016 UK EU membership referendum.[17] Anderson campaigned on this as well as oneducation,crime,healthcare, and halving theforeign aid budget.[18]
During the campaign, he was criticised for staging a door knock while he was being filmed for a report byChannel 4 News reporterMichael Crick. Prior to the visit, Anderson was recorded on his microphone instructing a man to "make out you know who I am, that you know I'm the candidate but not that you are a friend".[19] Will Moy ofFull Fact said: "Misleading campaign techniques from parties and candidates won't only harm those who are caught out, but could damage voter confidence in our political system."[20] Anderson criticised "nuisance tenants" in acouncil estate who were "making people's lives a complete misery". He suggested they should be evicted into tents in a field to pick vegetables. The Labour Party criticised Anderson's comments and compared his idea to "forced labour camps".[21]
Anderson was one of three Conservative Party candidates investigated by the party over claims ofantisemitism during the election campaign.[22] The investigation was opened on the grounds that he was an active member of aFacebook group in which other members supportedTommy Robinson and promotedGeorge Sorosconspiracy theories.[23][24] The results of the investigation were not made public, but Anderson later attended online training sessions by the Antisemitism Policy Trust charity to improve his understanding of antisemitism. He apologised for being a member of the group, and reported that he had left the group when the initial allegations were made.[25]
Anderson was elected as the MP forAshfield at the2019 general election, with a majority of 5,733.[26] The seat had previously been represented by Labour'sGloria De Piero, who stood down at that election.[27] He had previously worked as her office manager for five years.[28] Anderson was the first Conservative to represent the constituency since the1977 by-election.[29]
Anderson has served on theHome Affairs Select Committee since March 2022 and previously was on theWomen and Equalities Committee between June and December 2021.[30] He resigned from the latter role, citing the "time commitment required"; however, other members of the committee commented that he had not attended the majority of the meetings. Anderson had also previously been criticised for sexist comments, including urging a female councillor to "stay out of big boy politics" in November 2021, and adouble entendre in July 2018 about a female canvasser's breasts.[31]
Anderson was a member of theCommon Sense Group, an informal group of Conservative MPs which formed in the summer of 2020.[32] Following the publication of an interim report on the connections betweencolonialism andNational Trust properties, including links withhistoric slavery,[33] Anderson was among the signatories of a letter by the group inThe Telegraph in November 2020. In the letter, the signatories accused the National Trust of being "coloured bycultural Marxist dogma".[32] In response, theAll-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism issued a briefing paper to all Conservative MPs warning against using the term "cultural Marxism", as it may "inadvertently" act as a "dog-whistle for the far-right".[34]
In the same month, Anderson attended a breakfast meeting atDowning Street with Prime MinisterBoris Johnson and five other Conservative MPs. He later tested positive forCOVID-19, and those who attended subsequently self-isolated.[35]
Anderson announced via social media in June 2021 that he would not watch anyEngland national football team matches during theEuro 2020 tournament in protest at the players' decision totake the knee (a symbolic gesture against racism)[36] before matches. He stated his opposition was because he felt that the action risked "alienating traditional supporters" and it supportedBlack Lives Matter, which in his opinion was a "political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life".[37]
The same month, in a debate on thePolice, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, Anderson accused the Traveller community in Ashfield of thievery, stating, "theGypsy encampments that we are talking about in places such as Ashfield are not the traditional, old-fashioned Gypsies sat there playing the mandolin, flogging lucky heather and telling fortunes. The Travellers I am talking about are more likely to be seen leaving your garden shed at 3 o'clock in the morning, probably with yourlawnmower and half of your tools. That happens every single time they come to Ashfield".[38][39]
In November 2021, Anderson voiced his support for offshore processing of asylum applications in theFalkland Islands, and lobbied an immigration minister on the subject.[40] In May 2022, he said that the majority ofmigrants crossing the English Channel illegally wereeconomic migrants. When told that theHome Office had concluded that the majority were refugees, he blamed the "old failing asylum system", and accused the migrants of lying to falsely seek asylum.[39][41] In a later interview, in February 2023, Anderson commented, when asked on how he would respond to the small boats migrant crisis: "I'd send them straight back the same day. I'd put them on aRoyal Navyfrigate or whatever and sail it toCalais, have a standoff. And they'd just stop coming".[42]
Anderson was one of 99 Conservative MPs to vote againstCOVID-19 passports in England in December 2021.[43][44]
In May 2022, Anderson was criticised by opposition politicians and the food poverty campaignerJack Monroe for suggesting in parliament that there was not a "massive" need forfood banks in the UK, and their use was related to a lack of teaching on budgeting and cooking. Anderson invited opposition MPs to visit a food bank in his constituency, where he said that meals could be cooked for about 30 pence per day, and which also provided a mandatory budgeting and cooking courses, to its users.[45] For these comments, he was given thenickname "30p Lee" by his critics.[46]
The founder of the food bank in Anderson's constituency Ashfield, Simon Martin, commented that the courses were optional, and stated that "people do know how to cook, obviously, because people have been eating and surviving before we've been intervening with food parcels", but that providing free guidance on economic cooking may help. The 30p figure came from a batch-cooking session made by a team led by a professional chef, which stretched an initial £50.24 shop into 172 meals. Martin commented, "It illustrates the point you can produce healthy meals [cheaply] but it's not in the capacity of every family, and not easy to replicate in every household. It presupposes you're buying in bulk, cooking with big catering trays and have the storage".[47][48] Anderson later stated via social media that his comments had been misinterpreted.[49] He said: "I did not say poor people can't cook or there is no need for food banks."[50]
Monroe hinted at legal action against Anderson, after he commented in an interview that "She's taking money off some of the most vulnerable people in society and making an absolute fortune on the back of people".[51] Monroe later instructed lawyers to start a claim against Anderson.[52]
The following month, Anderson said that Johnson was the victim of "a witch hunt led by theBBC", shortly after the results of aConservative vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership was announced.[53] In July 2022, Anderson withdrew his support for Johnson over his handling of theChris Pincher scandal.[54]
Anderson backedKemi Badenoch during theJuly 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[55] After Badenoch was eliminated, he supportedLiz Truss, who was ultimately successful.[56]
In October 2022, Anderson replacedEsther McVey as chair of theBlue Collar Conservative caucus.[57] After becoming chair, he called for the party to focus on policing and immigration policies, and lowering taxes.[58] He was criticised by Labour MPChris Bryant for making allegedtransphobic comments about the comedianEddie Izzard in an interview in October 2022, and Ashfield Independent Councillor David Hennigan reported Anderson to theMetropolitan Police. The Met commented that it would take no further action, as "no offences had been identified". Anderson described Hennigan's report as a "waste of police time".[59][60]
Anderson was appointed asDeputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in February 2023.[61] In an interview withThe Spectator before his appointment, Anderson said he would support the return ofcapital punishment, where the perpetrators are clearly identifiable.[62] Prime MinisterRishi Sunak said neither he nor the government shared Anderson's stance.[63]
In February 2023,The Guardian reported that Michael Hollis, who runs a food bank charity, was pursuing alibel claim against Anderson. Hollis alleged that Anderson accused him in aFacebook post of exchanging cash in brown envelopes over a planning application.[52] In February 2024 the case was dropped.[64]
In August 2023, Anderson commented that anyasylum seekers who disliked being housed in barges such as theBibby Stockholm "should fuck off back to France". Opposition politicians and advocacy groupHope not Hate criticised his comments.Justice SecretaryAlex Chalk voiced his support for Anderson on behalf of the government, stating that although his language was "salty", his "indignation is well placed" and "not bigotry at all". Anderson later said that his comments had been misinterpreted as they only referred to "illegal migrants" and not "genuine asylum seekers".[65]
In November 2023, after the Supreme Court declared the policy of sending the asylum seekers to Rwanda was illegal, Anderson said the government should "ignore the law" and send them to Rwanda anyway: "We should just get the planes in the air right now".[66]
In November 2023,The Sunday Times reported that Anderson had stated he had been offered "a lot of money" by "a political party that begins with an R" to join that party.Richard Tice of theReform UK party denied that his party had been involved in any such offer.[67][68]
In January 2024, Anderson resigned, along withBrendan Clarke-Smith, as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, in order to vote for an amendment on theSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.[69] The amendment, put forward byBill Cash, would "ensure UK and international law could not be used to prevent or delay a person being removed to Rwanda."[70]
On 24 February 2024, Andersonhad the Conservative parliamentary whip suspended for his unwillingness to apologise for comments in aGB News discussion on an article by former Home SecretarySuella Braverman where she had stated that "The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge now". Anderson alleged that "Islamists" controlled London, itsMayorSadiq Khan, and the Labour Party leaderKeir Starmer, saying: "I don't actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they've got control of Khan and they've got control of London, and they've got control of Starmer as well."[71][72][73] GB News issued a statement on 26 February, which had been drafted by Anderson two days earlier in which he declined to apologise for his comments but said that his "words may have been clumsy but... were borne out of sheer frustration at what is happening to our beautiful capital city."[71]
He was criticised by Labour and some Conservative Party politicians, including formerChancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javid, and the party's leader in theLondon Assembly,Neil Garratt.[74] Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that Anderson's comments were "wrong, unacceptable and ill-judged" but he did not believe he was "racist or Islamophobic".[75]
Following his suspension, Anderson did not rule out defecting toReform UK; he had a private meeting with its leaderRichard Tice on 25 February.[76]
On 11 March 2024, Anderson joined Reform UK, becoming the party's first Member of Parliament.[77] Anderson had previously been critical of Reform UK, saying it was "not a proper political party" and describing its leader Tice as a "pound shopFarage".[78]
At the2024 general election, Anderson was re-elected to Parliament as MP forAshfield with an increased vote share of 42.8% and a decreased majority of 5,509.[79] Along with Anderson,Nigel Farage,Rupert Lowe,James McMurdock, andRichard Tice were elected for Reform. After the election, he was madeChief Whip of Reform UK.[citation needed]
Following an investigation by the parliamentaryIndependent Expert Panel, in November 2024, Anderson apologised for swearing at a parliamentary security officer and behaving in a way that "constituted bullying, and also harassment" on 23 November 2023, before he joined Reform. Initially he denied the allegations, but after a failed appeal he accepted the findings in full and made a full apology.[80]
In January 2025, Anderson voted along with all other Reform UK MPs for a new national inquiry into rape gangs. Reform UK was the only party to vote in unison. The bill was lost at 364 votes to 111, a majority of 253, against the amendment.[81][82][83][84]
On 7 March 2025, Anderson suspended the whip of fellow Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe over legal accusations. Anderson said to remove the whip was "a deeply painful thing to do."[85][86]
On 29 October 2025, Anderson admitted to "gaming the system" to get even "the fittest man in Ashfield" onPersonal Independence Payment (PIP) disability payments whilst working for theCitizens Advice Bureau before he came into Parliament. The Reform UK policy would stop providing PIP payments to recipients with ‘non-major anxiety’.[87]
GB News announced in March 2023 that Anderson would host a show on the channel on a £100,000 salary, whilst also working full time as the MP for Ashfield.[88][89] He had previously criticised other MPs having second jobs in November 2021, following theOwen Paterson lobbying scandal.[90] Anderson started hosting his weekly showLee Anderson's Real World in June 2023.[91] He was criticised in the same month by theSerjeant at Arms, the official responsible for maintaining order in theHouse of Commons, for using the parliamentary rooftop to film a promotion video for the show.[92]
Anderson is married to Sinead,[93] a Conservative councillor onMansfield District Council who represented theEakring ward between 2019 and 2023 and then the Thompsons ward from 2023.[94][95] She hascystic fibrosis, and has previously received a doublelung transplant for the condition.[96][97] He also has two sons from a previous marriage.[93] Anderson was a single parent for seventeen years and, at one point, sold his car to make ends meet.[9] At the age of 36 he was treated fortesticular cancer.[7]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAshfield 2019–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| New title | Reform UK Chief Whip of theHouse of Commons 2024–present | Incumbent |
