A decade ago, gatherings of the UK Independence Party resembled a church bazaar. From trestle tables, members hawked home-made calendars, advertised caucuses (“Christian Soldiers for Ukip”) and proffered fruitcake, a nod to the epithet David Cameron, then the prime minister, had given them. A vitriolic view of the European Union combined with self-deprecating eccentricity. Few imagined that those hobbyists, and their unconventional, tweed-clad leader, Nigel Farage, would soon achieve their dream of wrenching Britain from the eu.