Terry Jermy

Jermy was born on 18 August 1985 in Thetford, Norfolk.^[3][4] His father, Trevor, was a welder fabricator.^[5] Jermy attended Charles Burrell Humanities School and City College Norwich.^[6] He bought the About Thetford magazine from its previous owners in 2014 and served as its editor until his election to parliament, though he remains its owner.^[7][8]

In July 2008, Jermy was elected as a Labour Party councillor for Saxon ward (renamed Burrell ward in 2015) in a Thetford Town Council by-election.^[6] He was re-elected to the town council in 2011.^[9] That same year, Jermy was elected as a Labour councillor for the Thetford Saxon ward on the Breckland District Council.^[10] In the 2013 Norfolk County Council election, Jermy stood as the Labour candidate for Thetford West, finishing in second place behind UKIP candidate Peter Georgiou by only one vote.^[11] However, Georgiou resigned weeks later due to shoplifting accusations and Jermy won the seat in the August 2013 by-election.^[12][13]

He was re-elected to his now-renamed Thetford Burrell seat in the 2015 Breckland District Council election.^[14] In May 2016, he was appointed Mayor of Thetford on a one-year term, becoming the first openly gay mayor of the town.^[15][16] He was succeeded as mayor by his deputy, UKIP councillor Denis Crawford, in May 2017.^[17] Jermy retained his Thetford West seat in the 2017 Norfolk County Council election.^[18] He was re-elected to both the district council and the town council in 2019.^[19][20] In the 2021 Norfolk County Council election, Jermy held his Thetford West seat.^[21]

In 2023, Jermy was re-elected to the district council, now for Thetford Priory ward, and the town council, now for Priory ward.^[22][23] In February 2024, he was selected as the Labour candidate for South West Norfolk in the 2024 general election.^[24] He received little support from the national Labour Party campaign and had to raise £15,000 for his local campaign via crowdfunding.^[25] He won the seat in the general election with a majority of 630 votes and just over a quarter of the votes cast (26.7%), which was the lowest winning vote share in the general election.^[1][26] By winning the seat, Jermy unseated former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, who had represented the seat since 2010, and became the first Labour MP for the constituency since Albert Hilton, who lost the seat in 1964. The Spectator labelled Jermy's victory "the Portillo moment of 2024".^[27]

Jermy resigned from his county and district council positions in March 2025, but remains a town councillor.^[28]

Jermy is gay.^[16] His father, Trevor, died on 29 January 2023, aged 65, from stroke complications while in a medically-induced coma at West Suffolk Hospital.^[5] Jermy was inspired by his father's death to stand for a parliamentary seat.^[29]

• South West Norfolk in the 2024 United Kingdom general election