Suella Braverman is set to stand as a Tory candidate at the next election after winning a selection battle that otherwise could have left the home secretary scrambling for a seat.
Braverman has beaten backbencher Flick Drummond to be the Conservative representative for a proposed new constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville.
The Cabinet minister, who is currently MP for Fareham, beat Drummond, the MP for Meon Valley, by 77 to 54 in a vote of eligible local Tory members.
Constituency boundary changes will see the MPs’ current seats abolished, which set up the contest for the proposed constituency dubbed “the Battle of Waterlooville”.
Braverman later tweeted: “I am honoured and humbled to have been adopted by @Conservatives members to be their parliamentary candidate for the new Fareham and Waterlooville constituency.
“I thank my parliamentary colleague Flick Drummond MP for her excellent work for the people of Meon Valley.”
A number of constituency changes have been proposed across the UK as part of the 2023 boundary review.
The review started in January 2021, and its final recommendations are due to be presented by July 1 this year, with changes expected before the next election.
The Boundary Commission for England has closed its “final consultation” and is considering the feedback received.
Its plans would remove the existing Meon Valley and Fareham constituencies, and the two MPs competed for the newly proposed constituency.
Drummond represented Portsmouth South between 2015 and 2017, and has represented Meon Valley since 2019.
Braverman has represented the Fareham constituency since 2015.