When the centre cannot hold

摘要

Featherstone Working Men's Club, near Pontefract, has never seen anything like it. On a sunny May morning, a mass of Brexit Party supporters, armed with placards and warmed up by a tub-thumping speech from Ann Widdecombe, a former Tory minister, chant "Nig-el, Nig-el" as their hero clambers on to the platform. This month's European election, Nigel Farage shouts, is about democracy and the betrayal of voters. Mentions of Theresa May, the Conservative prime minister, or Yvette Cooper, the local Labour mp, are greeted with howls of "Traitor!" Outside, a kindly soul from the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) distributes leaflets pointing out that his party also backs Brexit.