Trump is President but Telford and Shrewsbury (in America) backed Hillary

And for the 10,000 people who voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic stronghold of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, the overcast start to the day seems an apt metaphor as the town prepares for life under President Trump.

By population, Shrewsbury is about half the size of its Shropshire namesake, but the feel is of a much smaller town. The climate and waterside location are also common features, and there are timber-framed buildings aplenty, but in the main these are 20th century family homes dotted along tree-lined avenues which characterise Shrewsbury MA.

While Shrewsbury, Shropshire is a buzzing commercial and cultural centre, Shrewsbury MA is largely an agricultural backwater, a commuter town for its much larger neighbour of Worcester, situated eight miles across the spectacular Lake Quinsigamond.

Shrewsbury voted heavily for Clinton, with the Democrat picking up 10,501 votes compared to Trump's 6,786 votes in a town with a population of about 35,000. During the campaign, Shrewsbury's leafy avenues saw little of the simmering resentment among the blue-collar voters where Trump scored highly.

The Shrewsbury Patch website's coverage largely focussed on a referendum being held the same day about the expansion of public chartered schools. The website's Allen McDuffee said the billionaire New York developer's "pugnacious and insulting political style obscured a hidden ability to tap into — and stoke — the anger and political disillusionment of huge swathes of Americans, ended his unlikely string of campaign successes by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton to become president-elect of the United States."

Massachusetts is traditionally a reliably Democrat state, and backed Clinton heavily. The Boston Globe newspaper, which covers Shrewsbury, drew analogies with Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The paper's Matt Viser wrote: "During one of his last campaign events, Donald Trump looked out at the crowd and said, with confidence, 'It will be an amazing day, it will be called Brexit plus plus plus. You know what I mean?' We now know."

Viser wrote that Trump defied all expectations and sent shudders around the world by claiming the keys to the Oval Office.

"It was the crowning moment of a political career built on proving the so-called experts – pollsters, campaign advisers, and pundits – wrong again and again," he said. "He won over white working class voters who have felt abandoned."

About 300 miles along the east coast from Shrewsbury is the tiny town of Telford, Pennsylvania. The railway station has long been abandoned, save for the occasional heritage train, but this apparently insignificant town was at the heart of the sea-change in American politics, which saw Donald Trump became the first Republican to win Pennsylvania since George Bush Snr in 1988.

Telford, in fact, appeared to buck the trend: the borough is split between Bucks County, which narrowly voted for Clinton by a margin of 48.4 per cent to 47.8 per cent, and Montgomery which decisively voted for Clinton by 68.7 per cent compared to Trump's 37.6 per cent.

But it was just a short distance away, in neighbouring Newtown, where Trump declared he would take Pennsylvania against the odds when he rallied supporters last month.

"In 18 days we are going to win the state of Pennsylvania and we are going to win the White House," he told cheering supporters.

"But you have to get out November 8 and vote. We have to turn this thing around. What's going on in our country is a disgrace. Together, we're going to deliver real change that puts America first."

He proved to be true to his word.