“The suburbs are being painted red” tweeted Labour’s John McTernan at the height of post poll spin frenzy on Friday. He meant that Labour was holding off Ukip and the Tories in the metropolis – gaining Hammersmith and Fulham and various other stops on the suburban tube routes. Mind you Ukip had taken the precaution of not standing in most of these suburbs. As one of their number, Suzanne Evans said, with disarming honesty, “media-savvy, well-educated people” don’t vote Ukip.

The Kippers are still largely an out-of-London phenomenon. But that doesn’t make them any less dangerous to the political establishment. Nigel Farage’s people were taking 47% of the vote in solid Labour areas like Rotherham. They swept the board in Essex, taking Basildon the home of Essex man – the aspiring working class voter who turned Tory in the 80s in admiration of Margaret Thatcher.

Nigel Farage is the direct…