The far right continues to grow in Europe, with extremist parties gaining ground in Italy, France and Sweden.
At first sight, Britain is an exception to these processes. Elsewhere in Europe, the center-right is losing ground to parties further to the right. Here, by contrast, the Conservatives dominate right-wing politics. They have, effectively, no competitor to the right. An attempt by Britain’s one fascist party, Patriotic Alternative, to break out of their isolation by attacking drag queen reading hours in libraries has received some, albeit modest, press coverage.
However, in the British political system, where power correlates to parliamentary seats, there was no mechanism by which the far right could keep on influencing politics after the referendum victory. One answer discussed on the right — to offer Nigel Farage aUp until October 2022, politics in Britain felt much like they do in Sweden — in that far right voters were helping to keep a center-right government in power.
Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership from September to October 2022 marked the end of a period of tacit right and far right alliance. Her budget would have passed too much money to rich people too quickly, and the sums did not add up. Finance turned against her. She was left able to draw on the support of Farage (who called Truss’s “the best Conservative budget