General Election 2024: Jeremy Lee, Boris Johnson’s former agent and founder of JLA speakers, to stand in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket as independent candidate

Boris Johnson’s former agent has announced he will run as an independent candidate for a Suffolk constituency.

Jeremy Lee, founder of JLA Speakers, will compete in the Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket constituency.

As well as being the former prime minister’s speaking agent before his time in Downing Street, Mr Lee has worked for clients including Mark Carney, former director of the Bank of England, and comediams Jimmy Carr and Michael McIntyre.

He has labelled Johnson’s time as premier as ‘disastrous’ and said he is not interested in reaching high office and, if elected, will spend his time focused on serving constituents and will not take up a second job.

He aims to ‘give a voice to the middle ground’ and help to remove a Conservative party which he says has ‘lost its compass’.

He believes the UK’s economy is ‘up the creek’ thanks to a ‘hard Brexit’ and that the country needs to be rebuilt for future generations.

Mr Lee, a one time member of the Tories, lives in Bury near to a grocery store where his grandfather once worked.

Also standing in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket are Peter Prinsley (Labour), Emma Buckmaster (Green), Peter McDonald (Lib Dem), Scott Hussey (Reform), Jeremy Lee (Independent) and Darren Turner (Communist).