The scary rise of the far right in Europe: it’s a familiar theme and one that progressive politicians and liberal media often rehearse. A game-changing surge in support for nationalist, Eurosceptic, culturally intolerant parties was predicted after the 2016 Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s US election victory. Yet it never really took off.
Last year’s electoral success of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats, and setbacks for the hard-right Alternative for Germany, suggested the forces of reaction were in retreat. Then came France’s presidential election run-off, when the far-right’s Marine Le Pen gained a record 13.3m votes – over 41% of the total.
