The Truss moment may replace the Portillo moment

First light was now coming through the double doors where earlier the ballot boxes had been carried.

At the front of the leisure centre, a small group of journalists waited for Ms Truss’ arrival. “I’ve never had a welcome like this before,” quipped one man in shorts as he arrived to use the leisure centre.

Outside, Earl Elvis of East Anglia, the Monster Raving Looney Party’s candidate, stood alone, smoking a cigarette. A few metres away, the Labour candidate Terry Jermy was looking intently at a piece of paper. He appeared to be practising a speech.

Liz Truss though still hadn’t arrived.

My colleague Chris Gibson was soon told by an election official that she had definitely lost.

He showed Chris a message he’d sent his wife: “Turn on the TV. The story of the night is about to happen.”

Some in the hall knew the result; most, I think, did not.

I repeated back to Chris exactly what I planned to say on air, not wanting to get a word wrong.

Suddenly, as I started talking to the camera, everyone was listening.

“We have received a strong indication that Liz Truss has lost,” I told BBC viewers. Some people near me gasped, others cheered.

With all the other candidates present and the result now widely known, Ms Truss’ absence was causing frustration. The slow handclap began.

Minutes later, two cars swept into the car park and she emerged from one of them.

The other candidates were already on the stage. Ms Truss took her place by Toby McKenzie of Reform, who only got into politics in the last few months. He and the former PM would end up fewer than 1,500 votes apart.

I was standing five metres from Ms Truss as Labour’s narrow victory was declared.

Throughout, Ms Truss stared ahead impassively, arms straight at her sides.