Lee Anderson's life in Parliament must be 'quite lonely' says former colleague Gloria De Piero

Former Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero says her successor Lee Anderson's life in Parliament must be "quite lonely" after he became the only Reform UK MP. Mr Anderson once worked as Mrs De Piero's caseworker when he was in the Labour Party, before leaving over disagreements with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Anderson went on to join the Conservatives, winning Ashfield in 2019 and serving for a time as Conservative Party deputy chairman. The Conservatives later suspended the Ashfield MP after comments he made about Sadiq Khan and he then made the decision to join Reform.

Gloria De Piero spoke about her views on her former political staffer on Matt Forde's The Political Party podcast, released on Monday (April 15). Mrs De Piero herself chose not to stand at the 2019 election due to her own disagreements with the Labour Party leadership, but she remains a member.

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Speaking about Mr Anderson's win in 2019, Mrs De Piero said: "I felt very sorry for the Labour candidate who is a personal friend. Obviously, I hadn't spoken to Lee for some time and I saw his maiden speech and it was good. I messaged him to tell him it was a good maiden speech.

"I got on with Lee. I think the representation of Lee is somewhat of a caricature now. He can be very funny, he can be very good company, can be clever and I liked him.

"That's the level of friendship that we had then and we don't have now. I talk to him, of course I talk to him. I don't really hate anyone, I don't bear animosity. People make their own decisions and live with those decisions."

Speaking about Mr Anderson's decision to leave Labour, Mrs De Piero said: "I know why he says he left but the way I think about these things is clear. Lee had been a member of the Labour Party since he was 16...

"You have a set of principles and you join a party that most reflects them. Your party will go through ups and down and it's my view that you're job is to argue for your sort of kind of Labour in the Labour Party."

Asked what Lee was like as a member of staff, Mrs De Piero added: "There was not a canvass session he would miss. I haven't spoken to him since Reform, because I haven't bumped into him since Reform.

"I know what Parliament's like, you have friends in your respective parties, it must be quite hard... If there's only one of you, I suspect it could be quite lonely, but Lee is a tough character so he might be alright."