Lee Anderson hits the campaign trail... in the wrong constituency

“Gorton & Denton,” wrote Reform MP Lee Anderson on Facebook, posting a picture of himself and his party foot soldiers on the campaign trail. “A cold but productive day in what will be a hotly contested seat. Reform UK fear no party. Bring it on.”

The party was starting its campaigning for the seat vacated by Andrew Gwynne and widely expected to be contested by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham before he was blocked by Labour’s NEC.

And Anderson’s picture was taken outside Stanley House Function Rooms, the only slight problem being… it isn’t in Gorton & Denton. The centre is in the Ashton-under-Lyne seat of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, around half a kilometre outside the constituency where Anderson and his mob claimed to be campaigning. A search on the Parliamentary website confirms the building is in Rayner’s constituency.

Suggested Reading

The Reform rising star who stands with ICE

Rats in a Sack

Rayner herself has mocked the party for its lack of geographical nous, saying: “Farage’s Reform can’t even find the Gorton and Denton constituency on a map. Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy filling their party full of former Tories who failed the country.

“Local residents in Gorton and Denton deserve a local MP who is focussed on delivering on local residents’ priorities like tackling the cost of living. That’s what Labour will be speaking to voters about every day on streets across Gorton and Denton while Farage gets round to finally learning how to use Google maps and actually work out where they live.”

Still, at least 30p Lee and his merry band of overwhelmingly old, white men got their blunder out of the way early on. Rats in a Sack is old enough to remember when the socialite Sir Dai Llewellyn stood for Farage’s Ukip in Cardiff North in the 2007 Senedd election and managed to spend the entire campaign knocking doors in a neighbouring constituency.