As Donald Trump becomes America’s new president today, Cockermouth couple Martin and Lydia Parlett have added reason to reflect on the historic day.

The pair were campaign managers during retiring outgoing president Barack Obama’s election fight in 2008.

It was almost by chance that the then Oxford University students ended up working on the campaign.

Lydia said: “It was late evening, while we were catching up on American news, when we heard one of the most eloquent and powerful speeches on the need for political and societal change.

“We didn’t even have to look at each other to know that we felt the same way – we simply had to be a part of this historical movement.”

Within 24 hours they had put their studies on hold and boarded a plane to become full-time campaign managers for the Democratic Party’s presidential, senatorial and congressional campaigns in Virginia.

Martin said: “We were having the time of our lives and fighting for a political cause that had such resonant meaning across the globe.”

The couple’s strategy for reaching undecided votes was so successful their initiatives were recognised by Obama and adopted as national campaign policy.

Lydia said: “It was like we were living in an episode of the West Wing.”

After their campaign victory in Virginia, the couple returned to complete their studies, where they were awarded the Oxford Leadership Prize in recognition of their continuing work in grass-root politics. Lydia received the St Peter’s College Essay Prize for her political scholarship on Obama’s rhetoric.

The political bug has stayed with them.

Martin, who went on to do postgraduate research at the University of British Columbia, published his first book, Demonizing a President: The Foreignization of Barack Obama, in 2014.

He now works at Sellafield, is chairman of governors at Whitehaven’s Thornhill School and is a director and trustee of the Whitehaven Community Trust, which supports some of West Cumbria’s most vulnerable people.

Lydia, a teacher, was the Labour candidate in Cockermouth Town Council’s by-election in September. The couple had mixed feelings about this year’s US election campaign.

Lydia said: “This election was different. It saw America turn inwards on itself with fear, divisiveness and incivility.”

Martin added: “If the election of Barack Obama was a giant leap forwards, then the election of Donald Trump could very well be like taking a backwards tumble down the staircase of history. We will have to wait and judge.”

Now settled in Cockermouth with daughter Arabella, one, the couple are keen to encourage young people into the democratic process.

Lydia said: “We have plenty of important political decisions on our doorstep.

“The upcoming by-election in Copeland, the continuing campaign for West Cumberland Hospital services, changes to our parliamentary constituency boundaries and the upcoming county council elections to name but a few.”

A personal thank you letter from President Obama hangs proudly on their living room wall. It states: “Together you are sending the message that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things.”

Martin said: “That’s the definition of progressive politics and it’s become a sort of philosophy that our family lives by.”