Former MP Tom Hunt expelled from Conservative Party

Tom Hunt held the seat in Ipswich from 2019 until 2024

Former MP Tom Hunt has been asked to leave the Conservative Party.

Hunt was MP for Ipswich from December 2019 to July 2024, when he lost the seat to Labour's Jack Abbott.

The Conservative Party said he had been "expelled from the Conservative Party following a complaints process", but did not provide further details.

Hunt said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision and "strongly refuted the complaint".

Hunt was a Conservative district councillor in East Cambridgeshire and worked at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority before he won the Ipswich seat from Labour's Sandy Martin in the 2019 general election.

Since losing to Abbott, Hunt has been actively campaigning against legalising assisted dying and as recently as 11 July was writing in Conservative Home about his predictions for the bill.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said the process relating to the complaint which led to the party asking Hunt to leave was "rightly confidential".

In a statement, Hunt said: "I am deeply disappointed by this provisional decision.

"I have strongly refuted the complaint from the start and continue to do so.

"I am currently seeking legal advice so it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this stage. It's a confidential process."

Local Conservatives have described their "surprise" at the turn of events.

Ian Fisher, the Conservative Group leader at Ipswich Borough Council, said: "This has come as a complete surprise to us.

"He [Tom Hunt] had been in semi-regular contact with Conservatives in the county and they are equally surprised."

He went on to say "there was no prior warning or knowledge about the proceedings taking place".