On 10 September 2014 Watling was shortlisted in the
Conservatives' open primary at Clacton to select the party's candidate for the
Clacton by-election and was adopted following a public meeting on 11 September 2014. At the by-election, Watling came second with 24.6% of the vote behind the incumbent
UK Independence Party (UKIP) MP
Douglas Carswell, who previously served as a Conservative but left that party and joined UKIP earlier in 2014. At the
2015 general election, Watling again contested
Clacton as the Conservative candidate, coming second behind Douglas Carswell, who won 44.4% of the vote. Watling was elected to Parliament as MP for Clacton at the snap
2017 general election, at which Carswell chose to retire, with 61.2% of the vote and a majority of 15,828. He was returned as MP for Clacton at the
2019 general election with an increased vote share of 72.3% and an increased majority of 24,702. Following an interim report on the connections between
colonialism and properties now in the care of the
National Trust, including links with
historic slavery, Watling was among the signatories of a letter to
The Daily Telegraph in November 2020 by the
Common Sense Group of Conservative parliamentarians, which accused the
National Trust of being "coloured by
cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the '
woke agenda. Watling lost his seat in the
2024 general election to
Reform UK candidate and leader
Nigel Farage. ==Post-parliamentary career==