who is Lee Anderson? My name is Lee Anderson and I am born and bred in Ashfield, I went to John Davies Primary School in Huthwaite and Ashfield School in Kirkby. My entire traceable family comes from Ashfield. I come from a family of coalminers and after leaving school I followed my dad into the pits and worked in the pits in Nottinghamshire for 10 years. After leaving the pits I volunteered at the local Citizens Advice Bureau (Ashfield and Broxtowe) where I stayed for 10 years. I then went on to work in hostels for homeless care leavers, and then to the local MPs office for 5 years. At the same time, I became a district councillor for Huthwaite, after being a lifelong Labour member, I joined the Conservative party in early 2018 and then stood to be a district councillor for the Conservative party and was successful. In December 2019 I was lucky enough to be elected the Member of Parliament for Ashfield. I have two grown up sons, Charlie and Harry and live with my wife Sinead and our Westie Alfie. I enjoy watching Mansfield Town FC play and Nottingham Forest FC. My plan for Ashfield is to create a level playing field for local people, to ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need in life to prosper. Instead, all he said to reporters was: “What are you waiting here for?” Mr Anderson was suspended by Rishi Sunak last weekend after he refused to apologise for claiming in an interview with GB News that “Islamists” had “control” over London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan. The remarks have been widely condemned from across the political divide, and this morning Home Secretary James Cleverly told the Times that Mr Anderson should apologise directly to Mr Khan for his comments. n his original interview with GB News last week, Mr Anderson told the channel: “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. “He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.” In a separate statement published by GB News on Monday, Mr Anderson admitted his words were “clumsy” but that they were “borne out of sheer frustration at what is happening to our beautiful capital city”. However, he doubled down on his refusal to apologise, saying: “If you are wrong, apologising is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. “But when you think you are right you should never apologise because to do so would be a sign of weakness.” Rishi Sunak broke his silence to condemn Mr Anderson’s words against Mr Khan on Monday, calling them unacceptable and “wrong”. The prime minister also rejected suggestions his party had “Islamophobic” tendencies in light of criticism from his own side, including from Tory peer Baroness Warsi who claimed a new generation of Conservatives were “dragging this great party… into the gutter”. Baroness Warsi said that “not only is there a hierarchy of racism” in the Tory Party today, “anti-Muslim racism is being used as an electoral campaign tool” and that Muslims “don’t matter” and were considered “fair game”. Speaking to Speaking on BBC Radio York, the prime minister denied the Tory party has “Islamophobic tendencies” and said: “Lee’s comments weren’t acceptable, they were wrong. That’s why he’s had the whip suspended.”