“This is such a crunch moment,” said Annunziata Rees-Mogg. If her accent is perfectly polished porcelain, her words have a serrated edge. “I just feel this is a moment when I can’t stand by and let things head in the direction they are — or we face real revolution. What we need is political revolution through the ballot box.”

A decade ago Rees-Mogg was one of the most high-profile of David Cameron’s A-list of Tory candidates. Now 40, the sister of Jacob Rees-Mogg is the most conspicuous Tory defector to Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party. In her decade away from the political front line raising a family, the former journalist and headhunter has lost none of her political punch.

What brought her back? “The absolute