The EU has spent recent years building an invisible wall to prevent illegal migrants reaching its shores. Until recently it seemed to have failed, as people kept arriving. But this summer, when good weather would have normally led to a surge in Mediterranean crossings, the wager paid off—though at the cost of some suffering. 

Across the English Channel, the anti-migrant policies of Nigel Farage have sent Sir Keir Starmer’s government into a tailspin. Having previously tried to play down Mr Farage, the prime minister made beating him the focus of his big conference speech yesterday. It was, by Sir Keir’s pedestrian standards, rousing. It was also an act of political artifice.