If Nigel Farage had been made of fluffier stuff the course of recent British history might have been very different. On election day 2010, Ukip’s leader did not just fall well short in his bid to unseat John Bercow, the Commons speaker, he was also involved in a near-fatal plummeting to earth of a light aeroplane after a polling day stunt went wrong. Although he still suffers pain from the injuries he sustained in that accident and the disappointing Buckingham result was something of a personal humiliation, Mr Farage did what every successful person always does - he kept going.

By almost any measure, it was worth it. By the early stages of the last parliament the rise of Ukip obsessed and frightened Tory MPs