Nobody was really surprised that Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party (BP) won the recent European Parliamentary elections.
With UKIP picking up most of the establishment flak and former Conservative voters disgusted by three years of failure from Prime Minister Theresa May, it was always likely that there would be a massive "protest vote" for the BP.
What is surprising, however, is that the BP is now topping polls for people's Westminster voting intention. The party is riding high while the Tories continue their collapse.
The European Parliament is of course a powerless institution that just rubber stamps whatever the EU Executive tells it to. Westminster elections, by contrast, still count. This is where real power to shape things is decided, and a lot of that power is now clearly flowing towards Farage.
In fact, it is highly likely that the BP will gain its first MP in the Westminster Parliament within the next few days, with the by-election being fought in the English constituency of Peterborough.
The only thing that can stop the BP completely reshaping British politics would be if the Conservative Party got its act together and immediately pushed for a hard, "no deal" Brexit to force the EU to deal fairly with Britain.
Instead the Conervatives are engaged in a messy leadership contest, with most of the candidates arguing about rearranging the deck chairs on what is increasingly looking like the Titanic. Yes, the Conservative Party is going to have a hard job even conserving itself.
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