Europe’s right-wing is adopting the Left’s look

IN THE United States, pundits are predicting that a wave of women voters outraged by the recent Supreme Court decision on abortion will help Democrats retain control of the Senate, and possibly even the House. They may be right. But a closer look at right-wing politics in Europe should give Democratic strategists pause.

Across Europe and the United Kingdom, women and minorities are increasingly populating the top ranks of hard- and far-right parties. Italy’s next prime minister will be Giorgia Meloni, leader of the populist Brotherhood of Italy, a party with fascist roots. British Prime Minister Liz Truss fancies herself an even tougher version of Margaret Thatcher, though so far with limited success. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National is now the largest opposition group in France’s National Assembly.

Truss’s cabinet also contains a remarkable number of people with South Asian or African backgrounds, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, whose parents came to Britain from Ghana. The Labour Party shadow cabinet, by contrast, includes only one person of colour – David Lammy, who oversees Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.