 Hancock was selected as the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk in January 2010.He narrowly won the contest, defeating Natalie Elphicke (solicitor and wife of politician Charlie Elphicke, who later succeeded him as MP for Dover), by 88 votes to 81 in the final ballot.He was elected as the constituency's MP at the 2010 general election with 24,312 votes, 13,050 votes ahead of Liberal Democrat candidate Belinda Brooks-Gordon.