Caroline Ansell

Caroline Ansell re-took her seat in 2019, having lost it in 2017. Raised in Eastbourne, Ansell attended boarding school and became a French teacher. Aged 41, she was a councillor from 2012 to 2015, being appointed deputy opposition leader. In parliament, she has been a member of the environmental audit committee (influential in highlighting the danger of microbeads) and the ecclesiastical committee. An evangelical Christian, Ansell has expressed her support for “traditional marriage” and has been linked to a number of organisations supporting so-called gay conversion therapy, such as CARE. Ansell was a government critic on grammar schools, school budgets, National Insurance changes and Personal Independence Payment benefit cuts. She has chaired the education section of the 1922 Committee, aiming to improve the standards of education. In 2017, a man was jailed after making death threats against her. Ansell stated: “it is time this [abuse] was stopped”, citing that women are most often the targets. In October 2020, Ansell resigned from her position as PPS to the environment minister due to the government’s initial stance on free school meals. She has been on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee since 2020.