Liz Truss beware: She wouldn't be the first MP laid low by a turnip

The Turnip Taliban are back, says the Independent.

James Bagge, one of the Conservatives who resigned from the party in protest at Liz Truss's selection as candidate for South West Norfolk in 2009 amid complaints she had been "foisted" on them by Tory HQ, is to stand against her at the general election.

He told the newspaper: "A turnip has deeper roots than a lettuce."

I had more sympathy for the Turnip Taliban than was the fashionable at the time, but that's not what's important here. 

Because Liz Truss would not be the first politician laid low by a turnip.

Hurry over to the Northern Echo for the details:

The story of Sir William Payne Gallwey’s fatal brush with a brassica has recently been posted on The Victorian Commons blog, which is part of the History of Parliament project, and we are hugely indebted to David Walsh of east Cleveland for bringing this amazing story to our attention.

Sir William had stood down as Thirsk’s MP after 28 years in 1880 due his declining health, but he died on December 19, 1881, after a very unfortunate encounter with a root vegetable.

"On Thursday, Sir William was out shooting in the parish of Bagby and in crossing a turnip field he fell with his body onto a turnip, sustaining severe internal injuries,” said The Northern Echo the following day.

"All that medical aid could do was done, but with Sir William’s failing health, he gradually sank and died about ten o’clock on Monday morning."

A man slain by a turnip in an open field? It sounds like a lost M.R. James story,

At least he had a lovely funeral:

“The body was borne from the mansion through the park to the church on a hand bier, carried by workmen employed on the estate,” said the Darlington & Stockton Times. “At half past 10, the funeral cortege started from the principal entrance of the hall, preceded by the schoolchildren singing suitable hymns.”