He barely raises his head to explain, almost apologetically, that “You just feel let down by how things have happened around here”. Asked why he voted Leave, there is a brief glance up to make eye contact. The gaze is one of defiance, tinged with a hint of despair.

“Why not? We’ve tried everything else.”

The former miner lives in a South Yorkshire village that our nation left behind. In the EU referendum, it hit back. To spend a day in Grimethorpe was to begin to understand why so many people in Labour’s northern heartlands chose Brexit. And why Ukip is licking its lips.

Johnny Wood, a former miner, said that he intended to vote Remain but changed his mind at the last minute ANDREW MCCAREN FOR THE TIMES

A few locals said that they voted Out to kick the Tories; to stick a finger up to “the rich and