How a small rural town that ousted Britain’s Conservatives is emblematic of the nation’s democratic upheaval
THETFORD, England — With its historic, flint-clad houses and pleasant fields, Thetford is an unlikely scene for an electoral bloodbath.
THETFORD, England — With its historic, flint-clad houses and pleasant fields, Thetford is an unlikely scene for an electoral bloodbath. But early Friday voters here unexpectedly toppled former Prime Minister Liz Truss from her seat in Parliament, felling the biggest beast of the most disastrous election in the Conservative Party’s 190-year history.
This quaint market town in the sprawling lowlands of eastern England should be a rural, right-wing heartland. This time, however, it voted for the opposition Labour Party for the first time since the 1950s, helping catapult Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a self-described socialist, into No. 10 Downing St.
Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, right, lost her seat in Parliamnet in Thursday's historic election. “People will be pleased to see the back of Truss,” one man said. “This town has gone to pot.”Jacob King / PA via Getty ImagesMany here said they had little enthusiasm for Labour, echoing national polls. Rather they voted to punish the Conservatives — a guttural expression of democratic anger after 14 years of scandals and failed policies that have left the world’s sixth-largest economy stagnant and decrepit.
“People will be pleased to see the back of Truss,” postman Mick Callaghan, 61, told NBC News as he did his rounds. “This town has gone to pot, with the mortgages going up and the general mess the Conservatives have made.”
Nearby, Glenis Stevenson, a retired housekeeper, debated the night’s drama with a group of friends outside Thetford’s local Baptist church.
Rating: 5