Modesty is not a trait commonly associated with Nigel Farage. Something else must explain the Reform UK leader’s reluctance to talk about what is undoubtedly his biggest achievement.

Few individuals can boast of having influenced British politics as drastically as Mr Farage, with his record of campaigning for Brexit before that word was even coined. He will for ever be associated with the demand for emancipation from Brussels, but is rarely heard celebrating its completion. It barely earned a mention in speeches at his party’s annual conference last week. The simple reason is that none of the promises made about the benefits of life outside the EU have been fulfilled. Leaving made the country poorer, and voters know it.

Opinion polls routinely show that a majority are dissatisfied with the way Brexit has turned out. In a survey published this week by the thinktank British Future, 57% of respondents judged it to be “more a failure than a........

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