Brexit has lit the touch paper of right-wing extremism

The MP for North East Somerset was talking at his “show” at the Palladium in London last week, when he warned of attempts to overturn the original Brexit vote as undemocratic and resulting in more support for the likes of Tommy Robinson. The Pinstripe Pretender, as I like to call him, can claim some personal insight into this matter.

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After all, it was Rees-Mogg and his Brexiteer buddies Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who met up with leading extremist Steve Bannon, Trump’s former right-hand man and all-round populist agitator, just after he was kicked out of the White House last year. Bannon is Robinson with an American Express Centurion card and did after all once describe his boot boy alter ego as “the backbone of Britain”.

It’s therefore a bit rich for Rees-Mogg, who has campaigned so ardently for a political earthquake in the form of Brexit, while cuckooned in a safety net of wealth and hedge funds, to be warning the rest of us plebs of the dangers of stoking the fires of extremism. Brexit, and the chaos it has unleashed, is lighting the blue touch paper of pride and prejudice. It was Rees-Mogg who opened the stable door from which the fanatics have bolted.

Hypocritical or not, Rees-Mogg has hit on something very important – the rise of the far-right globally is like a dark cloud threatening to eclipse democracy. He just doesn’t have the self-awareness to realise that he is not an observer but a central part of this problem. Honeyed words, eloquent syntax and ever-so-proper manners cannot disguise the malignancy at the heart of his case.

Meanwhile, Steve Bannon’s new pet populist project, the Movement, has gained little traction in Europe with just the usual suspects, Matteo Salvini in Italy and Marine Le Pen in France, getting fully involved.

Steve Bannon's populist project 'the Movement' has failed to gain significant ground in Europe

Even Hungary and Austria, with their right-wing governments, are keeping a respectful distance. Bannon set up the Movement to challenge the European Union and what millionaire Bannon and his super-rich supporters and funders deem as the “elite” establishment in Brussels. They hoped to disrupt the up-and-coming election and build a right-wing “supergroup” within the European Parliament. Despite this alarming prospect, further information on the Movement is thin on the ground.

The only recent piece of news on its progress includes a very curious report in the past week on a new “gladiator” style school being opened in Italy which would promote Bannon’s style of Judaeo-Christian ideology to combat secularisation and defend the West. I wonder if a hate speech dictionary is included in the student starter packs?

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However, crazy and unhinged this all sounds, Bannon’s power and influence cannot be underestimated. That’s why it is reassuring to hear about the tens of thousands of protesters that took to the streets of Milan last weekend to protest against the rise of racism and anti-immigration sentiments in their own country. Intelligence agencies in Italy have already warned of a possible rise in attacks on migrants and minorities in the run-up to the European Elections in May, fuelled by the rhetoric and draconian attitudes towards these groups by the likes of populist politician and immigration minister Salvini. It’s heartening to know that there are many Italians who believe Salvini and his supporters should be stopped in their tracks.

Closer to home, Rees-Mogg is warning of the same kind of disruption should the UK be part of these European Elections which, from a Brexiteer point of view, sends a signal that we are still very much under the thumb of Brussels. However, if Brexit is delayed and we are part of the European elections, then UK voters of all persuasions will have their chance to show how they feel about Europe, possibly for the last time in this present incarnation. In this sense, there’s as much an opportunity for steadfast Remainers to exert their democratic muscle as there is for extremists to use it as an occasion for protest and disorder.

Of course, the UK is still in the ridiculous position of not knowing whether or not we will be involved in these elections at all. One thing is for sure – whether we are in it or out of it, the results will reveal how much support agitators and disruptors like Bannon and his hard-line right-wing enthusiasts have gained.

Let’s hope these gladiator populists are given the proverbial thumbs-down from European voters when they take to the ballot box in May. And let us hope that we have the opportunity to participate in this progressive counter revolution.