Nick Timothy Selected as Conservative Nominee to Replace Matt Hancock

Nick Timothy will be running for the West Suffolk Tory seat at the next general election. Photo: Jonathan Hordle/Shutterstock

The Conservatives have chosen Former United Downing Street Chief of Staff Theresa May as their candidate to replace Matt Hancock in the next general election.

Nick Timothy, now Senior Fellow at the think tank The Policy Exchange succeeded in voting members in West Suffolk on Sunday evening.

Mr. Timothy, who also writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, confirmed that he will be in contention for the seat. It's one of the safest Tory strongholds, with Mr Hancock winning a majority of 23,194 votes in 2019.

Writing on Twitter, the former Health Secretary wrote: “Many congratulations to Nick Timothy, a fantastic Conservative choice for the West Suffolk.

“Over the past 13 years, being the local MP for West Suffolk has been a great honor. Best wishes for his campaign – he'll make a great MP.”

Rachel Hood, chairperson of the West Suffolk Conservatives Association, said the selection was “a rigorous, open and transparent process, adding: “We had a very high quality shortlist of candidates and we are very grateful to everyone who offered themselves for selection.”

Nick Timothy joins Theresa May as she becomes prime minister. Photo: Andrew Parsons/i-Images

Mr Hancock has been an independent since November 2022, when Rishi Sunak stripped him of his Tory whip for appearing on ITV's I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

In December, he confirmed he would step down in the next election, due in autumn 2024, as the head of the local Tory association said he was “not fit” to represent West Suffolk in the House of Commons.

Mr Timothy, a prominent Brexiteer, served at number 10 with Ms May from July 2016 to June 2017 when he resigned the day after the Conservatives lost their majority in the House of Commons following her decision call an early general election.

In 2022, he wrote a report for the Center for Policy Research calling for Albanians to be barred from claiming protection under the Modern Slavery Act as a means of addressing the migration crisis in the English Channel.< /p>

Mr. Timothy wrote that the laws passed by Ms. May were subjected to “unfair violence” by the citizens of Albania. He also called for laws to prevent illegal migrants from ever settling in the UK.