The East Midlands market town of Kettering is famous for its trusty boots, Weetabix and at one stage John Profumo.

It is also a proper bellwether seat having swung between Labour and the Conservatives over the past 30 years.

In July it helped form part of Labour's majority of 158.

The Conservatives' worst defeat since 1832 has members in Kettering and elsewhere in the country trying to work out what went wrong and more importantly what next.

The activists I met are certainly dejected.

"I feel terrible," said Josh, while Linda told me she "wasn't surprised at the result".

Image: Linda said she was not surprised the Tories lost the election to Labour.

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All agreed calling the election early had been a big mistake and that Nigel Farage's Reform had cost them lots of votes.

But what next?

The problem for the Conservatives is that they didn't just lose votes to Reform UK but to the Lib Dems, to Labour, and in Kettering even to the Greens.

The task for the any new leader is how to rebuild a broad coalition - no easy balancing act.

And it begins today when the Tories properly embark on electing their new leader.

Six candidates are vying to take over and MPs will vote for the first time today, with the candidate who receives the lowest number of votes eliminated.

Another round will be held next week, to whittle the remaining hopeful's down to four.

Those four will then appear at the Tory Party conference to set out their case before two more rounds of voting leaves just two candidates.

With members finally getting the final say on the new leader - the result will be announced on 2 November.

Most members I spoke to thought following Mr Farage was not the answer - he's "a fantastic campaigner but not a wonderful leader", said Jonathan.

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But there was little agreement on who should take over.

One backed Priti Patel, another James Cleverly, while another bemoaned that he'd only heard of two candidates.

Unusually in this leadership contest there is no obvious runaway favourite.

What todays' result is expected to confirm is it's going to be close-run race.

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