Ever since a 2016 referendum put the United Kingdom on the path to leaving the European Union, British voters increasingly identify more with "leave" or "remain" than with political parties. That is a seismic shift, and only one party is positioned to capitalize on it if, as seems likely, the U.K. participates in the May 23 European Parliament election.
That's the brand-new Brexit Party led by the anti-EU militant Nigel Farage. But it's Farage's longer game that should worry Theresa May's Conservative Party.
As the former head of the anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, Farage is a household name in Britain. In the United States, he may be familiar as the first foreign politician to win an audience with Donald Trump after the 2016 U.S. election. Trump later caused consternation in official circles when he tweeted that Farage would make a great U.K. ambassador to the U.S.