Right wing populism has become the drumbeat and the political scenery of our times.

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Its signature moments, from Brexit to the two Trump presidencies, have been vast in scale.

Its meaning, as the West struggles to keep up, during an era of mass migration, is pretty well understood.

For Britain, with Reform UK the most popular party ahead of the next general election, as with many European countries, there is probably much further to go.

Now we have a left populism, represented mainly not by left-wing MPs from the labour party, nor by Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party, but by Zack Polanski’s Greens

Compared to the great scale and turmoil of the populist right, a by-election at Gorton and Denton in Manchester might seem a pifflingly small event to base anything much up upon.

Yes, the victory of the Greens’ Hannah Spencer was clear and convincing; but we are only talking about a few thousand votes here or there, in a single urban spot.

But I would argue that this victory presages something huge in British politics which will affect all the other parties.

“Populism” is generally a boo-word,........

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