Tom Hunt has been chosen to fight the Ipswich parliamentary seat for the Conservatives at the next general election.

Mr Hunt, currently chief of staff to the elected mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, was chosen ahead of Alex Deane and Joel Charles at a special meeting of the town’s Conservative Association on Thursday night.

He lives in Ely and fought Doncaster Central at the last general election. He was a campaigner for Vote Leave during the referendum campaign in 2016.

Mr Hunt was congratulated on Twitter by Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis who said he would be “A great asset for Ipswich and help turn Ipswich blue.”

Now he will be fighting to try to overturn Labour MP Sandy Martin’s 831 majority at the next election.

Each candidate gave a prepared speech and answered questions from the Conservative Party members at the meeting. This was a “closed selection” – only party members were able to take part unlike the open selection when Ben Gummer was chosen to fight the seat 11 years ago.

After all three candidates had had their turn in front of the audience there was a vote which ultimately led to the selection.

For a full interview with Mr Hunt see this website later on Friday.