How does Sunak solve a problem like Farage?

In the classic comedy Blackadder II the late, great Rik Mayall was responsible for one of the most memorable cameo appearances in television history. As the swashbuckling adventurer Lord Flasheart, he gatecrashed Blackadder’s wedding, declaring himself ‘flash by name and flash by nature’. Leaving female guests giddy and male ones open-mouthed in admiration, he then eloped with the spellbound bride. This left Rowan Atkinson’s Sir Edmund to contemplate the horror of a substitute marriage to the bridesmaid, Baldrick.

A week into this election, I found myself scouring YouTube for the relevant footage after observing Nigel Farage’s performances to date. When Rishi Sunak took the Westminster village by surprise with his snap election announcement, he also wrongfooted Farage who had been making secret preparations to stand in Clacton in the autumn.

This led Farage to put out a notably downbeat and low-energy statement the next day in which he declared: ‘I will do my bit to help in the campaign, but it is not the right time for me to go any further than that.’