Nigel Farage is the ghost at the Conservative Party feast – but he’ll do more than haunt Rishi Sunak

A long time ago, I made the mistake of thinking that Nigel Farage would fade away and be forgotten. Instead, he was instrumental in taking Britain out of the European Union – at two points in particular: in putting pressure on David Cameron to concede a referendum, and later in launching the Brexit Party, which contributed to the constitutional crisis that forced the election that broke the parliamentary deadlock.

After that, though, it really was time for him to step away from politics, I thought. He said so himself. He went into the YouTube business, making videos expressing opinions about how badly Brexit was being handled, but also other things. When coronavirus struck, he initially demanded more severe lockdowns – until the libertarian cause prevailed over his part of the political spectrum.

He was still fighting the Brexit cause, although public opinion was moving away from him. Before he could slip into either obscurity or the netherworld of Russell-Brand-style conspiracy theory, though, he was back again as a presenter on GB News. It is not the same as guiding the destiny of the nation, but it is a platform. What is more, GB News has journalists’ passes to the Conservative Party conference, so Farage turned up at Manchester – like a ghost at the feast.