In a letter published in this paper on Monday, William Blake of Hampshire wrote that he was supporting Reform because of “the overwhelming number of immigrants”. On the same page, Peter Martin of Hertfordshire wondered if the obsession with those on small boats – a “tiny minority” – was a “smokescreen to deflect” from the large numbers of legal migrants coming into the UK.

You see how impressions and emotions can determine elections. But facts matter. And facts about immigration have gone missing, or been successfully obscured.

Rishi Sunak and his gang have been so manipulative on this issue that Nigel Farage is seen as an upright chap, an honest broker. He is neither, but he sure knows how to work the crowds, the mainstream media and internet sites like TikTok where millions – including young Britons – follow him.

The saviour is not what he seems. In his spry, even-handed biography on Farage, journalist Michael Crick described his subject’s heroising of Enoch Powell and his alliances with far-right parties in the European parliament.

Now the anti-hero projects himself as a tireless protector of our shores from “invading” foreigners and portrays........

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