The abiding condition of modern Western politics is flux. It is true, of course, that the Conservative Party has now won its fourth consecutive election in the UK, but look a little closer and we can see rapid change. The Conservatives have had three leaders in that time and the character of the party has changed dramatically.

The speed at which the Conservative Party has redefined itself in just the last few months is striking. Boris Johnson has reinvented the Tories as the party of Leave. YouGov polling taken before the election indicated that 71 per cent of voters in favour of leaving the EU were planning to vote Conservative. That figure was 34 per cent before Johnson took over the leadership in July.