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Britain, whose intelligence cooperation with America is probably uniquely deep in the history of the world,

Indeed, it is no accident that the greatest trust in the intelligence world is that between Britain, America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – sometimes known in this field as the Five Eyes. This exists because of a common experience of kinship, language, war and living under law-based liberty. It is emphatically not the product of untrammelled state power, but of a culture that knows that its eyes (five pairs being better than one) need to scan the horizon to stay free.

All the power has been centred on finance and the financial model and, funnily enough, we have just hocked our entire economy to save that broken system. From the coasteering teams in Wales to the boxing clubs of the potteries I sense a deep frustration with this absence of voice and power that traditional politics just does not capture.

But the poll also reveals deep disenchantment with the overall political process. Only 4 per cent of voters think that the parties are being totally honest with voters over their tax plans and only 6 per cent think they are being honest about cutting the deficit. Most worryingly for David Cameron as he tries to regain the lead enjoyed by the Conservatives two years ago, more voters are now hoping for a hung Parliament than either a Tory or Labour victory. A senior Tory told The Times: “This is a phoney war right now, but that’s not because of any lack of fighting. It’s because they think we’re all fakes.”