The most unexpected of elections has produced the most unexpected of consequences. It was an election which most people did not think would happen, which a lot did not want, in which only a minority voted, and in which the winning candidates may never take their seats. Yet for all that, the UK’s European elections of 2019 could prove one of the most consequential destabilisations of the political order in modern British history.

These elections have been a rolling wheel of fire. They incinerated the foundational assumptions of the two largest parties, but ignited new confidence among the successful smaller ones. Their legacy will be complex. In a traditional first-past-the post perspective, the UK result has been portrayed as a triumph for the Brexit party, a party that barely exists, published no manifesto, had only one policy – an unconditional Brexit – and only one figurehead, Nigel Farage. From nowhere, the Brexit party captured 32% of the vote and won 29 of the UK’s 73 seats in a parliament it despises, destroying its Ukip ancestor and the Conservative party along the way.