‘I’m the Labour MP who beat Liz Truss. Here’s how the campaign to unseat her unfolded’

It’s been less than a decade since the term ‘post-truth politics’ came into our lexicon, but it’s now been a year since UK politics has been ‘post-Truss’.

Even though the former Prime Minister has now gone on her own journey of discovery – supporting ultra conservatism and conspiracy tendencies she is at least doing it in her own time. After her failed premiership and the indignity of being unseated, the country has very much moved on, even if Truss herself hasn’t.

Having my very own “Portillo Moment” by defeating Ms. Truss last July and becoming only the second ever person to defeat a sitting or former PM at the ballot box has certainly been a roller-coaster of a ride since they announced the results just before 7am at the King’s Lynn Leisure Centre.

I won by 630 votes, overturning a majority of 26,195, which is, I still can’t believe, the biggest swing ever from Conservative to Labour in a General Election and enough to win the seat.

Since becoming the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk I get asked a lot, “how was it?” and “when did you know?”.

‘I was confident Truss would lose’

Former Labour MP, Stephen Twigg, who 27 years earlier had another defining moment of an election night, described his initial reaction when beating Michael Portillo as a “shock” and “wasn’t able to get my head around it”. I must confess, for me, it wasn’t a complete shock.

Within days of the General Election being announced I was confident Truss would lose. We were knocking on doors of loyal Conservatives who knew exactly who their MP was, and they would not vote for her. We went through the entirety of the election campaign, and nobody had a positive word to say about her.

Truss was likely to lose, that much was clear, it just wasn’t clear who from the list of eight other candidates was going to defeat her. I always strongly believed that I was the candidate capable of winning, and the “It’s Terry or Truss” campaign slogan started to resonate.

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In late 1999, Channel 4 compiled a list of “moments of the 20th century” voted for by the public, and the Portillo Moment came third. I am not sure Truss losing would be this high up in such a list for the 21^st Century version. With so many ‘big beasts’ having lost on one night, the media had a hard job keeping up with the announcements.

But the change locally has been keenly felt. There was palpable anger on the doorstep towards Truss during the campaign. Just before she left Downing Street, polling showed her net favourability rating at staggering -70, and even more shocking, just only 14 points above Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But it wasn’t so much her national role that resonated locally, in a constituency where a significant number of people are owner-occupiers and rightly or wrongly, they blamed Truss for the increase in their mortgage costs. But it was her role locally as the MP which really annoyed people.

There was a very clear sense that she took the constituency for granted, simply using it as a platform for other things – people would quote to me on the doorstep how much their MP was receiving to deliver a speech in some far-flung part of the world. It really annoyed them.

‘I will forever be linked to her’

Having served as a Cabinet Member since 2014, just four years after her election and having been parachuted into the seat, Truss never really established herself locally, she was an odd fit for the constituency and there were repeated stories about awkward encounters at a local school, or business visit.

Every time we were out campaigning a car would stop and someone would wind down the window to share “I’m a Conservative, but we can’t vote for Liz Truss. We’re voting for you!”.

The Tories only in the last month have disowned Liz Truss and her economic record that wiped £30bn off the economy, but the good people of South West Norfolk did it much quicker. Liz Truss keeps blaming the Treasury orthodoxy for her downfall, but the public do not buy it.

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Being born and brought up in the constituency has its advantages, I understand the challenges and I know the area well – we do not need a sat nav when we drive around! I enjoy running surgeries, something Truss was known to rarely do and it’s a real joy undertaking visits.

Regardless of their politics, most people are genuinely happy to see their MP engaging in local issues, campaigning on the things that matter and available to help when needed. We’ve not had that for so long, for many it feels alien, but it is fundamentally what an MP is there for.

While I will forever be linked to her, as my Wikipedia page suggests, her legacy will be just as long-lasting tied to the Conservatives profligacy with the public finances and in-party psychodrama that brought so much damage to so many up and down the country.

The change the Labour Party promised to bring at this election has certainly been felt in South West Norfolk.

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