More than a decade ago, I had a curious conversation with Nigel Farage in a restaurant in Strasbourg. The outgoing leader of the UK Independence party told me that his hobby was leading tours of the battlefields of the first world war. He said he was sure that, if it came to it, Britain could again summon up the martial spirit that saw it through the Great War.
I thought of that conversation last week as Mr Farage celebrated Britain’s decision to leave the EU, and Europe commemorated the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. Mr Farage, it seems to me, is exactly the kind of person the war poet Wilfred Owen had in mind when he warned against those who told war stories to “children ardent for some desperate glory”.
At this moment of triumph for the political ideals of Mr Farage, it is important to realise that this is a dangerous moment for Europe. We are faced with a choice between two paths. The first leads to reconciliation between the UK and the EU. The second leads to an increasingly confrontational relationship between Britain and continental Europe.