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Gordon Brown has warned the world of the rise of the far-Right — again. Writing in The Guardian, the former prime minister argued that a Right-wing wave has swept across Europe as a result of moderates capitulating to extremists. Brown claimed that Austria’s likely incoming “anti-immigration, pro-Russia government” will “cement a new hard-Right axis across Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and [..] Italy, where […] the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (who met Keir Starmer on Monday), is accused of taking control of the press and the judiciary”.
However, Brown goes on to say that Labour’s recent victory is a harbinger of hope, as is Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election to the European Commission and Pedro Sánchez’s outmanoeuvring of the Spanish far-Right. Given his contempt for Meloni, would Brown have met with her if he were in Starmer’s shoes? How many authoritarian leaders did Brown appease in the name of realpolitik?
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SubscribeI suspect that most of the ‘far-right’ are just ordinary people to the right of the centre in politics. The reason that the Left make them out to be ‘far right’ is because the Left are so far away from the centre in the other direction themselves.
Lazy thinking from Gordon Brown. Not being left does not make us far-right.
Von Leyen has had to be everything to everyone to get reelected. Giorgia Meloni scored a goal there and good for her. Apart from getting one of her party into place, she also showed she was happy to compromise and do a deal.
He’s just a sort of bigoted man.
(with apologies to Gillian Duffy)