gummer was selected by open primary as the conservative candidate in august 2007 for the ipswich constituency. his main three pledges were the retention of services at ipswich hospital, a crackdown on binge drinking, and no new housing without provision of infrastructure. gummer defeated incumbent labour mp chris mole and became mp for the ipswich constituency in the general election of 2010, enjoying the largest majority of any conservative in ipswich since 1935. in the 2015 election, gummer was re-elected with an increased majority. in april 2017 theresa may made him responsible for co-ordination of the conservative manifesto alongside her former advisor nick timothy. he lost his seat in the 2017 election by a margin of 831 votes to the labour candidate sandy martin.