Liz Truss crashes out in dramatic end to election count

Chris Bishop
·2-min read
Liz Truss speaks briefly to the BBC after losing the South West Norfolk seat <i>(Image: Chris Bishop)</i>
Liz Truss speaks briefly to the BBC after losing the South West Norfolk seat (Image: Chris Bishop)

Liz Truss's political career came crashing to the ground at the South West Norfolk count after she was defeated by just 630 votes by Labour's Terry Jermy.

The result, originally expected to be announced at 5.30am, was delayed until almost 7am.

As journalists gathered around the stage, the BBC said it had received "a strong indication" Ms Truss had lost.

While the other eight candidates waited for the result to be announced, there was speculation Ms Truss might not appear.

Candidates wait for Liz Truss to take to the stage (Image: Chris Bishop)

There were slow hand-claps and a shout of: "Has anyone got a lettuce."

Then she appeared, ashen faced, and stood to await her fate. There were loud cheers as the result was announced, before Mr Jermy gave his acceptance speech.

(Image: Press Association)

He said voters should never be taken for granted and overnight they had voted for change.

He added being elected was the honour of his life and he would do all he could to serve his constituents.

Candidates wait for Liz Truss to take to the stage (Image: Chris Bishop)

Afterwards, he added he became more positive as the campaign wore on.

Ms Truss spoke briefly to the BBC before being pursued around the hall by a mob of photographers and camera crews before she left.

South West Norfolk was previously considered the seventh-safest Tory seat, with a majority of 26,195 after the last election.

As well as those who turned to Labour many disaffected Conservatives would have switched their allegiance to Independent James Bagge, who was highly-critical of the lack of time Ms Truss had spent in her constituency after her failed premiership.

(Image: Press Association)

 

Terry Jermy (L) 11,847

Liz Truss (C) 11,217

Tobias McKenzie (Ref) 9,958

Josie Ratcliffe (LD) 2,618

James Bagge (Ind) 6,282

Pallavi Devulapalli (G) 1,838
Earl Elvis of East Anglia (MRLP) 630

Gary Conway (Heritage) 160
Lorraine Douglas (Com) 77

Majority: 630 Turnout: 61.2pc

(Image: Press Association)

 

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Who is Keir Starmer? The grammar school ‘superboy’ who became Labour’s next PM

    Follow our live blog for the latest UK election results Live 2024 general election results mapped

  • Angela Rayner wears outfits from Blairite power couple’s fashion firm three days running

    Angela Rayner, the new Deputy Prime Minister, has worn an outfit from a brand with close links to the Labour Party for the third consecutive day.

  • Suella Braverman’s Tory leadership campaign dealt blow as key ally abandons her

    Suella Braverman’s prospective Conservative leadership campaign has been dealt a blow after a key ally abandoned her.

  • Why the Muslim Vote campaign is a glimpse into a horrifying future

    When the circus finally arrived, it offered the usual attractions. The old rituals were a comfort. John Curtice, the swing-o-meter, Laura Kuenssberg and Jeremy Vine performed the familiar motions, not to mention the irrepressible Count Binface.

  • Miracle survivor: how freak circumstances conspired to save ‘doomed’ Iain Duncan Smith

    As one big Tory beast after another faced The Hunger Games on election night, one notably escaped the carnage. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, stood tall on the podium with the former and current Labour candidates whose vicious infighting had done him such a big favour.

  • Labour candidate defeated by Farage reveals safety fears during campaign

    Jovan Owusu-Nepaul tells of vitriol from Reform supporters and says he was concerned for safety of those around him

  • British Jews have reason to be frightened. This time it’s not Labour

    On October 8, as the world was beginning to comprehend what had just happened in southern Israel, most decent people – including many who would go on to decry Israel’s retaliatory campaign – expressed genuine horror at what Gaza’s Islamist barbarians had done. But a substantial minority was openly cheering. Not just in Turkey and Iran, but in Toronto and London.

  • Defeated Tory candidate considering legal action over postal vote ‘delays’

    A Tory candidate who was defeated by just 15 votes is considering taking legal action over alleged postal vote chaos in his constituency.

  • How many seats did Reform UK win - and why they don't match its vote share?

    If Reform UK is more popular than the Lib Dems, why did it win so few seats by comparison?

  • This result might be the biggest surprise in the history of French elections

    France will not have a far-right government, but that answer, that single fact, does not cover another crucial point. What's clear is that the French parliament will be split between three factions. The biggest, but well short of an absolute majority, will be a left-wing coalition, called the New Popular Front.

  • Unseated Yeovil MP slams ‘dead’ Conservative Party as he quits

    Former Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh, who held the seat from 2015 to 2024, has taken aim at the Conservatives as he leaves the party.

  • Nicola Sturgeon 'personality cult' blamed for SNP defeat as 'apology' demanded

    NICOLA Sturgeon should apologise for the SNP’s election defeat, according to a former MP while another blamed the former first minister for creating a damaging “personality cult” around herself.

  • Meghan McCain: Biden won’t be elected to a second term ‘one way or another’

    Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said President Biden will not be elected to another term “one way or another.” “Joe Biden can step aside for another candidate or lose in historic numbers in a few months — but one way or another he will not be President soon and…

  • France elections latest: Exit polls show leftist New Popular Front in the lead, with far-right in third place

    Marine Le Pen's National Rally topped polls during the first round of voting, while French leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has described election as 'relief'.

  • Who are the favourites to be the next Tory leader? Latest odds

    Jockeying for the Tory leadership is in full swing after the party's disastrous general election.

  • How the voting bloodbath wiped out the safest of Tory seats

    Joshua Reynolds, aged 25, just four years out of a business degree at Cardiff Met University, is a dainty young man with a cheerful face and quiffed sandy hair, not unlike that of Britain’s new Prime Minister. He is trying hard not to look daunted as he sits on a bench near Maidenhead Library. A new Lib Dem MP of less than 24 hours, he has seized a Tory constituency once considered among the top five safest in Britain, previously held by Theresa May, a former British prime minister no less.

  • Left leads French election in an unexpected upset

    STORY: France was on course for a hung parliament Sunday after a leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot ahead of the far right.Supporters of the left-wing New Popular Front cheered as results of the second round of parliamentary elections were announced.The leftist alliance gathers the hard left, the Socialists and Greens.They were forecast to win up to 215 seats out of 577, according to pollsters' projections.These projections are usually reliable.At the headquarters for the far-right National Rally, or RN, the mood was far more somber, with early results placing them in third.Ahead of the vote, opinion surveys had projected the RN would win comfortably.But left and centrist alliances cooperated by pulling scores of candidates from three-way races in a bid to build a unified anti-RN vote.RN leader Jordan Bardella said France has been pushed into the hands of the far left - and towards uncertainty.The results would divide parliament into three big groups, all with vastly different platforms and no tradition of working together.Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said she was determined to keep the coalition alive.“Social justice won tonight. Environmental justice has won. Tonight, the people won. And it's only just beginning.”The results are also a humiliation for French President Emmanuel Macron.His centrist alliance, which he founded to underpin his first presidential run in 2017, was projected to be narrowly second.He called the snap election after his ticket was trounced in European Parliament elections last month.Voters punished him and his ruling alliance for a cost of living crisis and failing public services, as well as over immigration and security.

  • Left leads in French parliamentary vote, Macron's party second, National Rally third

    Preliminary results suggest a significant shift in France's political composition, with no single group securing an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. The left-wing New Popular Front appears to have made substantial gains, while President Macron's Ensemble coalition faces the prospect of a reduced presence. As of 22:00 Paris time, the latest seat projections for the French National Assembly are: New Popular Front (left alliance): 177-192 seats Ensemble (Macron's coalition): 152

  • Letters: If the Conservative Party is to survive it must end the Leftward drift that led to defeat

    SIR – Contrast the speech made by Suella Braverman, who held on to her seat in the near wipeout of the Conservatives at the general election, with those given by Grant Shapps and Robert Buckland, who did not. Ms Braverman gave an unequivocal apology for the Conservative government having let us down so badly, while the others blamed those who divided the party by disagreeing with their Left-of-centre approach. If it is to stand any chance of preventing Reform UK from mopping up many more disaffe

  • Biden narrows Trump’s lead in swing states after debate debacle: Survey

    President Biden, in the wake of a poor debate performance and growing calls for him to step aside, has narrowed Trump’s lead in the key swing states, according to a new survey. The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, published Saturday, showed Biden leading Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the incumbent…