The Conservative Party has confirmed it will select a new candidate for Norwich North "very early" next year.
The dramatic resignation of Nick Rose earlier this month has left the role vacant ahead of next year's election - when current MP Chloe Smith will not be standing.
Mr Rose stepped down following a series of rows over his comments on climate change, transgender issues and immigration.
"We are looking to select a new candidate very early in the new year and are continuing to campaign in the interim as one big team," said David Campbell Bannerman, president of the Norwich Conservatives and a former MEP.
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"So it is business as usual and Chloe Smith continues to do an excellent job as our MP."
Army veteran Nick Rose withdrew from the race to succeed Ms Smith less than a month after being selected and three days after the Tories received an official complaint from Thorpe St Andrew School about his appearance at a hustings event there.
Staff said his comments about transgender people and immigration were "inappropriate and incendiary".
The former Bournemouth councillor initially defended the remarks as "plain speaking" and said he was determined not to be "drowned out by a woke minority".
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But following talks involving senior officials at Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Mr Rose announced his resignation.
Sources in the party said the decision followed not just the complaint about the hustings but also a string of other controversies - including a now-deleted tweet in which he referred to "idle benefits scroungers" and his belief that climate change was not "man-made".
Ms Smith has held the seat since a 2009 by-election, ending 12 years of Ian Gibson holding the seat for Labour.
Alice MacDonald has been Labour's candidate since July 2022, with the battle for the seat largely expected to be between Labour (40.3pc of the vote in 2019) and the Tories (50.5pc).
The Greens have announced Ben Price, who is city and county councillor for Thorpe Hamlet, as their candidate.
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