A kind of disaster nationalism craves the likely chaos as we head towards no deal. And Johnson is channelling its energy

Who is really setting the agenda on Brexit? The politician wielding the most leverage has never, in his entire career, held a parliamentary seat, let alone a cabinet position. He runs a party that isn’t a party, with no MPs, no members and no manifesto. But Nigel Farage holds the fate of the government in his hands.

Farage has found himself somewhat overshadowed in recent weeks, as all eyes have been drawn to the new power in Whitehall, Dominic Cummings. But with his threat to stand Brexit party candidates against the Tories unless the government delivers a no-deal Brexit, it is Farage who has blown wide open a long-brewing crisis in the Conservative party. If they don’t give him what he wants, he will hand the next election to Jeremy Corbyn. Most Tories, absurdly, fear Corbyn more than no deal.