Lee Anderson is the Conservative MP for Ashfield, having first gained the seat for the Conservatives in 2019 with a majority of 5,733.
The Ashfield constituency is found to the west of the county of Nottinghamshire and covers Sutton in Ashfield, Kirkby in Ashfield and Eastwood. It had previously been held by the Labour Party in every General Election since the mid 1950s. This part of the Red Wall was captured by the Conservatives in 2019, with seven out of ten voters here backing Brexit. It was once represented in Parliament by the Labour Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon.
Born in 1967, Lee Anderson was educated at Nottingham technical college. He previously worked as a coal miner, and comes from a family of miners, many of whom were involved in the 1984 miners strike.
He then worked for the citizens advice bureau, and later served as office manager for the former Labour MP for Ashfield, Gloria De Piero.
Anderson joined the Conservative Party in 2018, in protest against the Labour party’s approach to Brexit and the party’s move to the left under Jeremy Corbyn. He formerly served as a Labour councillor in Ashfield, and later as a Conservative councillor in Mansfield.
In 2021 he announced that he would not be watching the England football team for the first time, as it took part in the European Football Championships. He was critical of the players ‘taking the knee’ before kick off and likened this to the players supporting a political movement.
Married with two children, he is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Brazil.
Email – lee.anderson.mp@parliament.uk
Website – www.leeanderson.org.uk
Twitter – @ashfield_lee
