Knocking on doors in the community on the fringes of Bicester, north of Oxford, Miller, the Liberal Democrat candidate, heard from residents with a variety of political backstories and motivations, some of whom had previously voted Tory, Labour or neither, some of whom had backed Brexit or remain.
All, however, had arrived at a common conclusion: this time they would vote for him, to try to defeat the Conservatives.
The idea of the "blue wall", traditionally Conservative seats whose affluent, remain-minded populations were left aghast at the antics of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, is not new. But on 4 July, election day, a lot of Tory candidates could find out it is a bigger and politically broader phenomenon than anyone guessed.
Miller's Bicester and Woodstock seat, newly created under the boundary review, would have had a notional Conservative majority of about 15,000 in the 2019 election. Constituency-extrapolated polling finds he should win it.
Denne historien er fra June 19, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra June 19, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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