Caroline Ansell

Caroline Julie Porte Ansell (born 12 January 1971) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Ansell was born in 1971 in Eastbourne and is the youngest of four daughters of Scottish parents.

Her early education was at state primaries, before being educated at Beresford House School, a private day and boarding school for girls aged 6–18.

She attended university at Royal Holloway, University of London, to study a Bachelor of Arts in French.

Ansell also studied business at the private university École supérieure de commerce and, aged 30, gained a master's degree in education from the University of Brighton in 2001.

Ansell worked for a number of years as a French teacher, exclusively in private schools.

She qualified as a headteacher in 2008, at the age of 37, but did not take up a role in this profession.

She worked in a support role at Cavendish School in Old Town, Eastbourne in the same year as one of her children was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which led her to take a sabbatical from teaching.

Ansell has given various reasons for her interest and motivation in politics; she noted in her maiden speech that:

"'I am a teacher and passionate about education, but it was my boy’s shock diagnosis of a life-threatening brain tumour, then aged five, that changed the course of my life and has ultimately brought me to the House of Commons.'"

A review by IPSA in 2010 found that "MPs' family members can provide good value for money due to their willingness to work long and anti-social hours…evidence of only one instance of abuse under the House of Commons system."

Ansell served as a local councillor for the Meads ward on Eastbourne Borough Council from 2012 to 2015 and became deputy opposition leader, with the shadow portfolio for community including housing.

In her first two years in the House of Commons she was influential in fighting immigration issues on behalf of some constituents and against revenge porn.

Ansell was first elected as a Conservative Party councillor on 31 May 2012, at the age of 41.

She served as a councillor for three years, representing the Meads ward of Eastbourne Borough Council.

During her time as a councillor, Ansell successfully secured cross party support to establishing Eastbourne as the 'Eastern Gateway Town' to the South Downs National Park and the authority's support for a second runway at Gatwick Airport.

She was part of the team to bring back Meads Magic, a community Christmas event which brings thousands of people to the area.

She was first elected as Eastbourne's MP at the 2015 general election, but was defeated at the 2017 election.

Ansell was selected by her local party membership to stand as the Conservative Party candidate in the 2015 general election.

Ansell won the competitive selection for one of her party's top target seats against candidates with health, law and military backgrounds, including two of her future parliamentary colleagues Ben Howlett and Alberto Costa.

Against predictions she beat Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat incumbent, with a majority of 733 votes, having been described before the election by a columnist in The Independent newspaper as "a terrific candidate…eloquent, personable and clearly knows and loves the town".

She then went on to serve the constituency of Eastbourne for two years.

Ansell exerted influence with ministers to enable substantial investment into the town.

This included £75 million to improve the A27 a major problem for Eastbourne and £5 million from the government's Local Growth Fund Round 3 programme given to the town's Devonshire Park development and a share of £13.2 million earmarked for Sovereign Harbour from the same pot of money.

Ansell helped an American Eastbourne resident and mother Katy Garlington, who was allowed to stay in the UK after Ansell intervened with the Home Office and persuaded the then immigration minister James Brokenshire to stop her deportation.

Another Eastbourne resident Atterbell Maplanka was released from custody over immigration issues after another intervention from Ansell.

Ansell also championed the campaign by victims of revenge porn offender Olly Whiting to obtain justice for his crimes after he posted content on a US website, working with local police, Sussex PCC Katy Bourne and the then-Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Ansell worked with local Eastbourne actress Lauren Backler and her campaign to reduce the bowel cancer screening age from 60 to 50 in England to bring it in line with Scotland.

Backler lost her mother to the disease and Ansell organised a parliamentary debate on the issue and lobbied ministers to look into the lowering the age to 50.

Backler became a champion for the charity Bowel Cancer UK and raised awareness of the condition and its symptoms.

From 2015 to 2017, Ansell employed her husband as a full-time personal assistant with public funds.

Ansell voted to leave the EU at the 2016 referendum in line with her constituency who voted by 57% to 43% to do the same.

Prior to making her intention to vote for Brexit, Ansell organised and chaired the largest debate on the issue in the south east of England.

The Big Eastbourne EU debate took place at the 1680-capacity Congress Theatre in the town on 26 May 2016 after the 900-seat Winter Garden was too small for the numbers who wanted to attend.

Ansell supported Theresa May in the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election.

She said of May: "In these challenging times, I firmly believe she has the experience and credibility to be an excellent Prime Minister. Her authority is unmatched and as such she will command the respect of the House of Commons and the confidence of the public."

In 2016, officials at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) said that they were "taken aback" by the fact that there were still 18 MPs, including Ansell, who employed family members in their offices.

This was in line with the rules which had been amended by IPSA following the MP expenses scandal to limit employing one family member per office.

She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne since the 2019 general election.

A ban on MPs employing family members in their offices is due to come into effect by 2020.