On both crime and Brexit, rejecting liberal orthodoxies has been a boon for Boris Johnson

Is it any surprise that voters – as revealed in a poll commissioned by the Telegraph – are rejecting the synthetic outrage of parliamentarians who have plotted for months to undermine Parliamentary democracy and instead are now emphatically prepared to countenance the temporary suspension of the House of Commons in order to get Brexit done?

It is difficult to blame the electorate for feeling angry and frustrated at how out of touch MPs are, but an estrangement between the governing classes and those in whose name they govern is hardly new. After all, crowds gathered on the south bank of the Thames in October 1834 to cheer on the conflagration that engulfed the Palace of Westminster by fire, so it’s plus ca change.

This time, it feels more visceral and not just on the subject of our leaving the EU as we've seen this week in the reaction to the Government's crime and punishment policies. For too long the so-called “progressive” liberal Left has owned the intellectual commanding heights and has sneeringly regarded a tough approach to criminals and law breaking as the preserve of populists, nativists and ignorant vote grubbers.