Anne Marie Waters slips into Garfunkel’s on Tottenham Court Road, in the West End of London, in a candyfloss pink knit under a navy suit with a scruffy blue satchel. She wears no jewellery, bar a watch, and no make-up.

She is softly spoken, with a Dublin lilt, and sits hunched over the table. “I’m not a limelight person,” she explains straightaway. “I quite like making a good speech, but I don’t like people’s attention on me. I don’t like being phoned all the time. I like peace and quiet with my dogs.”

It is not an introduction that speaks to political leadership. Nor does she exhibit any of the strident confidence of far-right political figures such as Marine Le Pen, the French National Front