William James Quince[1] (born 27 December 1982) is a British Conservative Party politician and former lawyer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Colchester from 2015 to 2024.
[7] He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate at the 2010 general election for the Colchester seat, coming second behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Sir Bob Russell.
[12] On 6 September 2016, after a bet on Twitter by a local constituent, Quince auditioned for the TV show Britain's Got Talent in order to raise money for charity.
[18] On 23 October 2018, he resigned from the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion citing lack of confidence in Bercow's ability to tackle bullying and sexual harassment problems in Parliament.
The Essex County Standard newspaper reported that Quince had accepted donations of two items in 2019 from the Russian-born businessman Alexander Temerko.
[24] On 17 September 2021, Quince was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families at the Department for Education, during the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.
[28] On 7 September 2022, Quince was appointed Minister of State in the Department of Health and Social Care as part of Liz Truss's cabinet.
[32] In February 2017, a 40-year-old man from Southwark was arrested and received a police caution for malicious communications after sending a series of abusive Twitter messages to Quince.