Stuart Anderson

Stuart Paul Anderson (born 17 July 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West since the 2019 general election.

Anderson's father was in the Special Air Service (SAS) and died when he was young. His mother worked as a nurse.

Anderson joined the army straight out of school, and was shot in the leg during a training exercise when he was 17. A subsequent tour of Northern Ireland combined with the trauma of being shot led to alcohol dependency. Subsequent tours of duty included Bosnia and Kosovo.

After leaving the army, Anderson worked in close protection for high-profile clients in the UK, Africa, and the Middle East, including Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani. He also ran security for US federal government officials in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Anubis Associates

In 2005, Anderson co-founded Anubis Associates in Herefordshire. The company offered courses in close protection training, "operational protection" for corporate VIPs, and "discreet personal protection" and consultancy services for petrochemical groups, financial institutions and stadiums.

Anubis Associates collapsed in 2012 owing £271,000 in tax. Administrators noted that Anderson, a director and major shareholder, had received £54,000 in illegal dividends "based on forecasted profits for a future period" that never materialised. Asked to repay the money, Anderson only offered £2,000, which the administrators accepted on the grounds that he might otherwise go bankrupt.

eTravelSafety

After the collapse of his previous company, Anderson founded another start-up based on personal security, eTravelSafety, of which he was "currently operating as CEO" at the time of the 2019 United Kingdom general election, according to his LinkedIn page. In December 2019 Private Eye reported that despite Anderson's professed enthusiasm for Brexit, his company had received £500,000 from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, a government fund which receives its backing from the European Union, with £79 million coming from the European Development Fund and £123 million from the European Investment Bank. The article also noted that whatever the next government decides should happen to EU-funded programmes such as the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, eTravelSafety is now guaranteed its share of EU money.

Herefordshire Council

Anderson joined the Conservative Party in 2016. He was elected to Herefordshire Council in a by-election in October 2017, although he failed to attend almost half of his first 13 scheduled council meetings. He did not stand for re-election in May 2019.

House of Commons

Anderson was selected as the Conservative Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton South West in December 2018, and contested the 2019 UK general election as its candidate. He won the seat by 1,661 votes. Following the election he was named by The Guardian as one of the seven "most controversial" new Conservative MPs, due to his receipt of an illegal dividend.

In January 2020, The Independent reported that Anderson's English Wikipedia page had been edited by an account named "Stuart Anderson MP" to remove potentially embarrassing material about the unlawful payments and the EU grant, as well as to make a minor correction about the directorship of one of his companies.

Anderson is a member of the Defence Select Committee.

During the 2019 general election campaign, Anderson repeatedly pledged his support for Boris Johnson's Brexit withdrawal agreement and said he would support a no-deal Brexit if Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement Bill were not passed.

Anderson is married and has five children.