Architect of Theresa May's 2017 election disaster to fight Matt Hancock's seat
One of Theresa May's former top aides has been selected as Tory candidate for Matt Hancock's old seat at the next election.
Nick Timothy will stand for the Conservatives in West Suffolk, which has been represented by the Health Secretary turned reality TV junkie since 2010. Mr Hancock lost the Tory whip after abandoning his constituents to appear on ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. He has been sitting as an independent MP but announced in December that he would stand down at the next election.
Mr Timothy and Fiona Hill, who served as Mrs May's joint chiefs of staff, were blamed for the 2017 snap election disaster where the Tories lost their majority. The pair resigned from Downing Street after the result, which forced Mrs May to rely on the hardline DUP to prop up her administration.
Mr Timothy helped to write the 2017 Tory manifesto, which included proposals to make people pay more for the cost of their care - dubbed the "dementia tax" by critics. Mrs May was forced to U-turn on the policy after a wave of criticism. Mr Timothy, 43, was also a special advisor to Mrs May in the Home Office, where she presided over the controversial "hostile environment" policy.
Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy at the Conservative Party Conference in 2016 (EPA)In an interview with The Times in 2020, Mr Timothy admitted 1017 had been a "bad campaign". "We called an early election and it didn’t work,” he said. “We failed. We ran a bad campaign. One of the mistakes of the campaign was the manifesto and I wrote the manifesto. There’s no point pretending I didn’t have my hands in the blood. I’ve never been in denial about that.”
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Mr Timothy is believed to have strong family ties to the constituency, which Mr Hancock won in 2019 with a 23,000-strong majority.
Local Conservative councillor Lance Stanbury said: "Delighted, absolutely delighted that Nick has been selected to fight for West Suffolk. He gave an excellent presentation today and is clearly all over the policy and understands all the issues for West Suffolk and I think will make a great candidate."
Another local Conservative, who did want to give their name, said the association "do not want a career politician". They said that Mr Timothy "has a good focus on the area, a lot of his family live here and he knows the area well".
Chair of the West Suffolk Conservative Association Rachel Hood said it had been a "rigorous, open and transparent process". "We had a very high calibre shortlist of candidates and we are very grateful to everybody who put themselves forward for selection," she added.
Mr Hancock tweeted: "Many congratulations to Nick Timothy, a fantastic choice as Conservative candidate for West Suffolk. Being local MP for West Suffolk has been a huge honour the past 13 years. Best wishes for his campaign - he'll make a terrific Member of Parliament."
* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
