James Bagge never wanted Liz Truss to be his MP. He has a long history as a Conservative – he and his entire family were members of the local Conservative association, his great-great-grandfather was a Conservative MP – but he has never voted for Truss. Now, in a seat that has been blue since 1964, where the Tories had a majority of 26,195 at the last election, Bagge is on a one-man mission to replace her.
When Rishi Sunak surprised Westminster on Wednesday by calling a general election for 4 July , Bagge was ready. “It is time for her to move to other pastures,” he said, confirming he is standing as an independent in South West Norfolk. “I am the only one who can ensure she does.
” We meet in Downham Market, a town in the top left-hand corner of the sprawling constituency. He picks me up from the station with his golden retriever Humphrey, and drives us up the road to a coffee shop next door to the office of the Swan Youth Project, the local charity for disadvantaged young people, of which he is the chair. “Liz Truss has never been to the Swan Project,” he tells me sadly.
“We invited her a while ago. Never been! She presides in a constituency [that has had] one of the highest school exclusion rates in the country. That’s the next generation.
Where is she?” Bagge, 71, is not your classic political agitator. In mustard cords with a shock of grey hair, he has the air of a Tory patrician from another era. He admits immediately that he had “a very privilege.
