Earlier this month Priti Patel was paid an intriguing compliment by the man who is poised to all but wipe out the Conservatives' footprint in the European Parliament, having won millions of Tory voters over to his new pro-Brexit party.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Nigel Farage claimed that the former development secretary was “the only one who is even qualified” to take him on at a general election, as he dismissed the possibility of Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab restoring the Conservatives' vote share as a result of their support for Theresa May's deal in March.

And speaking to Ms Patel, with an inevitably disastrous showing looming over Conservatives ahead of Sunday's results, it isn't impossible to see the logic behind Mr Farage's claim.

Ms Patel was among 28 Tory Leavers to hold out against the Prime Minister’s plan in a final Commons vote in March, in the face of gargantuan pressure from colleagues and her party’s leadership. In doing so she became a tricky target for Mr Farage’s attacks, which are largely levelled at those who supported a deal he describes as Brexit in name only.

Sitting in her Commons office next to a photograph of her younger self with Margaret Thatcher, the 47-year-old warns of a "gulf" that has emerged between the public and elected politicians as a result of Westminster's failure to deliver what she describes as a “full fat” Brexit.