Boris Johnson needs the Brexit Party. That’s the assumption observers make when they see the polls. With the Tory-Labour dominance broken by the rise of Farage and of the Lib Dems, the only way the Tories could win a snap election would be with a Brexit Party alliance, which might just be enough to defeat the combined seats won by Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP.

Which is why Nigel Farage’s rejection of an electoral pact this week made news. An incensed Farage told the prime minister that he wouldn’t co-operate because the Tories could not be trusted with Brexit. He’s accused Boris Johnson’s most powerful aide, Dominic Cummings, of wanting Britain to be bound to Brussels.

This is an improbable accusation to