Nigel Farage has spent the best part of three decades positioning himself as the outsider who might one day break down the door of No. 10. It’s been a remarkable run and he can now declare, with an entirely straight face, that he is the most influential British politician of the 21st century.

Since becoming Ukip chairman in 1998, Farage has impacted the political establishment, public opinion and the media in seismic, weather-making ways. That he has done all this without getting close to actual power is, perhaps, the greatest post-war demonstration of effective (but not necessarily truth-based) political campaigning and communications. 

It is also testament to Farage’s ability to scare the living daylights out of successive Tory leaders, forcing them into making fatal mistakes. And now this son of a stockbroker and Dulwich College old boy has Labour on the run with his faux man-of-the-people routine. In truth you couldn’t make Farage up. And that’s because he did it for us.

British politics is littered with figures who fell foul of over-familiarity

British politics is littered with figures who fell foul of over-familiarity

Now, with a prime minister whose days are numbered, a diminished opposition and some defection wind in the sails, HMS Nige should surely cruise effortlessly into office. Were the election to be called this side of the summer recess, I suspect that’s exactly what would happen. At the........

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