Caroline Julie Porte Ansell (born 12 January 1971)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 2019 to 2024.

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.

She worked in a support role at Cavendish School in 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.

[7] Ansell also championed the campaign by victims of revenge porn offender Olly Whiting[27] 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[28] and her campaign to reduce the bowel cancer screening age from 60 to 50 in England to bring it in line with Scotland.

[30][31] 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.

[32] 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.

[34] In April 2017, 51-year-old factory worker Mark Sands was jailed for four months for posting multiple death threats directed at Ansell via social media because he wrongly believed that she had voted for a cut to a disability benefit.

[42] At the snap 2017 general election, Ansell was defeated as MP for Eastbourne, coming second with 44.1% of the vote behind the Liberal Democrat candidate Stephen Lloyd.

She then resigned her job as a parliamentary private secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, because she had voted against the government, of which she was a member at the time.

[55] 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.

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".

[56][57] 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.