Rishi Sunak's deputy chief of staff Will Tanner is to stand for the Tories in the General Election.

And former special advisor Patrick Spencer will be standing for the party in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

Mr Tanner was appointed to the top Downing Street role in November 2022 shortly after Mr Sunak took over the Premiership.

East Anglian Daily Times: Will Tanner will be standing in Bury St Edmunds.Will Tanner will be standing in Bury St Edmunds. (Image: Will Tanner/Linked In)

He had also worked there under Theresa May and between those was a director of think tank Onward.

He is a former columnist in the i Newspaper.

Mr Spencer lives in Suffolk and is a senior fellow of the Centre for Social Justice. In the past he has been an advisor to a number of Conservative education secretaries.

He was a candidate in the 2017 General Election.

Both candidates were chosen on Monday evening after their names were put forward by Conservative Central Office.

Party members in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich were keen to have a candidate with links to the county.

Both will be defending seats that have comfortable Conservative majorities on paper - but recent opinion polls suggest they could be vulnerable if there is a collapse in party support.