Politics

Ashfield residents start campaign to kick Anderson out at the next election

Residents in Lee Anderson’s constituency have started a campaign to kick him out at the next general election.

The Tory MP was among the 2019 incumbents who took seats that were traditionally held by Labour to hand Boris Johnson a landslide win.

He has since gone on to become the deputy chair of the Conservative Party in a bid by Rishi Sunak to appease the right-wing factions of his party.

But closer to home, residents in his constituency aren’t too happy with the job he’s been doing representing their interests in parliament.

A new campaign group has been set up with the explicit aim of kicking him out at the next general election, slated at the start of 2025 at the latest.

Constituent Jim Cowan, a backer of the new ‘Lee Anderson Watch’, told Byline Times: “It’s time for Anderson to go. His politics swings from dog-whistle hate speech to acting like a lap-dog for the privileged, neither of which are representative of what the majority, either locally or nationally, want or need.

“As someone who has spent a lifetime fighting racism, I find his divisive views, and the extremist company he keeps, at odds with anything resembling decency.”

The group’s campaigns may be largely “underground”, it says, and it is not giving away any plans as of yet.

But it has launched a crowdfunder to kick things off.

It notes: “Help us raise money to campaign to get Lee Anderson out at the next election and we will donate 30p to the local foodbank for every £1 raised.

“This is a campaign organised by constituents who are volunteering so all the money will go towards leaflets, posters and other unavoidable expenses so we can get the message out there.

Explaining it’s motives, the page adds: “We think Ashfield deserves better.

“The tabloid press sometimes portrays Anderson as ‘a character’ but we wonder if he isn’t just a shameless chancer who will say anything for attention, like his former buddy Boris Johnson.

“He is certainly a climate sceptic, and doesn’t understand why constituents need more than 30p A DAY to cook ‘nutritious meals’. Or why they should break the monotony with an occasional McDonalds.

“Meanwhile, unlike his constituents, Lee himself is getting rich with donations from the snobbish Carlton Club and a job on GB News work £100k. That’s on top of his MP’s salary. That’s a hell of a lot of McDonalds dinners Lee! Maybe you could make a donation?”

Related: House of Lords could be replaced by bots with ‘higher productivity’, says peer4

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Published by
Tags: Lee Anderson