Long before Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman, there was another group of voters so powerful that it won every argument, referendum, and election.

The “silent majority” was the term used to describe those who weren’t members of any party, didn’t attend rallies or marches, or lobby politicians, but whose quietly-held views spoke for most right-thinking people.

The positions this group took might not have been particularly fashionable, but they represented a moderate form of self-interest, and represented a general mood that wasn’t always picked up by election campaigners or pollsters.

In 1992, when opinion polls predicted a Labour victory, they didn’t reckon on the silent majority’s aversion to the party’s tax-raising plans, nor its preference for sticking with the status quo under John Major’s Tories.

More recently, its voice prevailed in the 2016 Brexit referendum, contradicting the popularly-held view that UK withdrawal from the EU was a dangerous obsession of a few bigots and cranks.

READ MORE BY CARLOS ALBA

Now it seems that the silent majority is no more. Technology and the rise of populism have handed a megaphone to people whose views were previously expressed, guardedly, in shires and suburbs, across the land. Welcome to the new age of the “noisy minority”.

Its words may seem shrill and its numbers small, but in today’s world, the voice that is loudest is that which prevails, and the views of the noisy minority now permeate every area of public life, from politics to popular culture, commerce, media, and sport.

The trend is........

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