Farage believes that Labour is just as vulnerable in the north of England; that it has been ignoring its voters and that five calamity-filled years of an Ed Miliband government will drive those voters to despair. And perhaps then ready to turn to a new, highly motivated party that understands their values. So Ukip may have started out as a Eurosceptic protest group. But Farage has turned it into a working-class party whose main real aim in this election is to come second in about 75 Labour safe seats – positioning itself for what might be a Labour implosion in five years’ time. It’s unusual for an insurgent party to play such a long game, but this is the course that Farage has set upon. He has succeeded to a degree not often appreciated. When Lord Ashcroft surveyed Ukip voters last month, he found only a third of were ex-Tories. Half had abstained at the last election, or voted for a protest party. Contrary to the caricatures, Farage has assembled a very mixed army of voters who defected from all parties – and none.