Tories suspend Anderson’s wife as photo appears to show her on Reform campaign

A Conservative councillor married to Lee Anderson has been suspended by the party after he shared a photo that appears to show her campaigning for Reform UK.

The Tories said they would launch an investigation after the Ashfield MP posted the picture on X, formerly Twitter, last Saturday.

The photo appears to show Sinead Anderson among a group of people canvassing for Reform in Selston alongside her husband.

A Tory spokeswoman said: “Mrs Anderson has been suspended pending investigation. The Conservative Party has a robust complaints process in place.

“This process is rightly a confidential one, so that complainants can come forward in confidence.”

When approached for comment by the Sunday Mirror, which broke the story, Mr Anderson reportedly asked: “How do you know it’s her?”.

If Ms Anderson, who is a senior member of Nottinghamshire County Council, is found to have campaigned for a rival party, it would be a breach of party rules.

Ms Anderson has been contacted for comment.

It comes after the former Tory deputy chairman, who is now Reform’s only MP following his defection from the Conservatives after losing the party whip, announced a non-aggression pact with a number of former party colleagues.

He said he would avoid campaigning in certain Tory constituencies due to friendships with Ben Bradley (Mansfield), Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw), Marco Longhi (Dudley North) and Nick Fletcher (Don Valley).

The move led to calls for Rishi Sunak to suspend Mr Fletcher from the party after the MP took to social media to endorse Mr Anderson as Ashfield’s “greatest champion”, adding he needs to be back in Westminster after the election.

It is understood that Mr Fletcher was spoken to by the Government’s chief whip Simon Hart over the post on X.