Now, after starting political life as a Labour Councillor in Ashfield back in 2015, before switching to the Conservatives in 2018 – largely to do with his opposition to Momentum and an unfortunate incident with a digger – Lee Anderson has now joined Reform UK.
Having recently been accused of “having more parties than Boris in the thick of covid lockdowns”, you’d think it would now be impossible for Lee to move any further to the right, so hopefully he’ll be staying put, at least in terms of political affiliation if not longevity.
Here at your Chad, it would be fair to say that Mr Anderson – allegedly known as Lee Anderthol among some of his political opponents – has a somewhat frosty relationship with us.
Gone, sadly, are the days when he’d get the kettle on when we were summoned to help judge the annual children’s Christmas card competition organised by his political predecessor and former boss Gloria de Piero.
But things have gone rather quiet these days. We still run his weekly column, but with his £100K a year GB News gig to top up his Parliamentary salary, he’s not exactly relying on us to raise his profile these days.
Anyway, with his latest round of political musical chairs, and a General Election surely around the corner, we thought it was high time we took a look at the lows and lows of Lee’s career to date.
1. Digging a hole (for himself)
So, starting at the beginning . . . it's safe to say that Lee was never quite 'on message' with the rest of Ashfield Labour. They were generally moderate, pro-remain, and tended to shuffle awkwardly and look at their feet when the C Word (Corbyn) was mentioned. But Lee was more . . . erm . . . Lee. The final straw came when he hired a digger to block off the entrance to a local beauty spot to stop travellers parking up there and landed himself with a community protection notice . . . issued by his own council. He parted company with Labour shortly afterwards. Photo: Chad
2. The Wilderness Year (Ben's little helper)
Prior to being announced as Ashfield's Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Lee busied himself with getting his photo taken standing next to Mansfield MP Ben Bradley . . . a lot. Wherever Ben could be spotted (usually posing for a photo op' himself) Lee would not be far behind. At one point, the double act of the Red Wall were so inseparable that one politician quipped: "Why does Bradley keep getting pictured with the bloke that used to do Gloria's photocopying?" Photo: Chad
3. Bigger picture
Lee was one of a number of delegates to take part in a discussion group organised by the London School of Economics and Political Science as part of study into the financial implications of Brexit on Red Wall economies like Mansfield (Ben was busy). During the debate, a delegate who represented rural businesses in North Nottinghamshire pointed out the devastating impact a ban on short-term migrant labour would have on farming, market gardens and orchards. Luckily though, Lee was on hand to offer a solution. "We can just get students to do it in the Summer holidays," he said, somehow keeping a straight face. "Now, I never went to university," he continued . . . hmmmmm. And, oddly, he was never asked to be Chancellor of the Exchequer either. (Getty Images) Photo: Leon Neal
4. THAT interview
Okay, so one of Lee's best documented early 'finest moments' was, whilst out on the election trail, he got a mate to pose as a 'random' while conducting an interview for Channel 4. Unfortunately, he forgot that he was still wired up to his radio mic and the crew recorded the entire conversation. It went something on the lines of: "Make out you know who I am, that you know I'm the candidate but not that you are a friend." Even more awkwardly, when the 'random' opened his front door with a 'surprised' look on his face, he then called for 'problem tenants to be sent to labour camps'. Photo: Channel 4