Will Tanner

Will Tanner is a former British political adviser who most recently served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

Tanner served as one of Theresa May's special advisers from 2014 whilst she was Home Secretary and then when she was Prime Minister from 2016, until leaving in 2017 after the general election.

Tanner then worked for Portland Communications as a political adviser for a year, before becoming in May 2018 the co-founder and initial director of the think tank Onward.

When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, Tanner returned to Number 10 as Deputy Chief of Staff. In May 2024, during the 2024 general election campaign, Tanner was labelled by The Daily Telegraph as being the author of the Conservative Party's plan to bring in a new form of national service were they to win the election. He was criticised for his time in Government for "refus[ing] to suggest any number of immigrants as an upper limit".

Tanner was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the seat of Bury St. Edmunds & Stowmarket in the election, alongside his party duties, hoping to replace Jo Churchill, but he was unsuccessful in his bid, losing the traditionally safe Conservative seat to the Labour candidate, Peter Prinsley by 1,452 votes.