Rishi Sunak has been readopted as the Conservative candidate in Richmond and Northallerton, the seat he has represented since 2015.
The former prime minister thanked local members in a post on X on Friday evening. He said: “Thank you to our local members for readopting me as the Conservative candidate for Richmond and Northallerton.”
He added: “They don’t call Yorkshire God’s own country for nothing, and it’s an honour to represent this corner of it.”
By law, the latest possible date for the next general election is 15 August 2029.
Sunak’s re-selection appears to answer jibes he faced during his tenure as prime minister suggesting he had plans to resign as an MP and migrate to California.
Sunak led the Conservatives to a heavy defeat at the 2024 general election, but held on in Richmond and Northallerton with a majority of 12,185, which was the largest of any Conservative candidate.
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Since standing down from the Conservative frontbench, Sunak has continued to represent his Richmond and Northallerton constituents in parliament. This week, speaking at House of Commons business questions, Sunak asked a question about parking at a local railway station.
He told the leader of the House, Alan Campbell, that he had “recently convened a meeting of North Yorkshire council, the mayor’s office and TransPennine Express, to discuss the shortage of car parking at Northallerton train station”.
He asked: “Will he join me in encouraging all parties to work constructively together to find a solution for our local community?”
Campbell responded that he would be “willing and happy to follow that up and ensure a resolution about the funding.”
Sunak’s links to California, and speculation over his political future, were a recurring theme in jibes from Keir Starmer, the then Labour leader, at prime minister’s questions from 2022 to 2024.
In May 2024, after Labour won the North Yorkshire mayoralty, Starmer told Sunak: “At his mansion in Richmond, he can enjoy a brand-new Labour mayor of North Yorkshire.”
He added: “Now that he, too, can enjoy the benefits of this changed Labour Party, is he really still in such a hurry to get back to California?”
In June 2023, Starmer told Sunak at PMQs: “I appreciate that the prime minister has a keen interest in the mortgage market in California, but I am talking about mortgage holders here.”
Starmer, who served as prime minister from 2024 to 2026, has since stood down as an MP.
On 1 September, hours before his successor Andy Burnham‘s first appearance at the despatch box as prime minister, Starmer told the Camden New Journal that he would resign.
In a statement, the former prime minister said: “Over the summer, I have had time to reflect and consider my future. I have decided that now is the right time to step down as MP for Holborn and St Pancras and hand the baton over to a successor.”
He added: “It’s been an honour and privilege to represent the best constituency in the country since taking over from the great Frank Dobson 11 years ago.
“But it is now time to step aside and focus on other issues: international affairs including defence, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world. I will also continue working with others as I have done over many decades to tackle violence against women and girls.”
Starmer was formally appointed as steward of the Chiltern Hundreds the same day as part of the process that allows MPs to resign their seat.
At the time, Kevin Hollinrake, the chair of the Conservative Party, accused Starmer of “another U-turn having pledged to stay on” as an MP.
Starmer’s resignation triggered the October 2026 Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which was won by Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali.
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