Westminster ended last year in a strange place. Conversation was dominated by the question of whether Nigel Farage could become prime minister. No 10 grew weary of being asked how it would respond if Elon Musk donated $100m to Reform. Despite the Conservatives’ worst-ever election defeat, there was an ideological swagger to the right.
As well as Labour’s early woes, this reflected Donald Trump’s triumph in the US. Like Lenin’s Bolsheviks before him, the thinking ran, he would seek to export his revolution. Farage, who toasted Trump’s victory at Mar-a-Lago, would be one of the biggest beneficiaries.
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