Euro elections: the onward demise of centrism and rise of the populist right

Assuming the polls are accurate, the European elections on May 23rd will be historic for both good and alarming reasons.

The onward demise of centrism as the dominant current of British politics — in a process set in train by the 2008 global financial crash and economic recession, passing a death sentence on neoliberalism as a viable economic model — can only be a cause for celebration. This particular creed, after all, is the political equivalent of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray; engaging in happy talk about spreading human rights abroad and meritocracy at home, an ugly reality of the projection of hegemonic power abroad and class oppression at home

The resurgence of the far right, on the other hand, and the rise of right wing populism as a political force, filling the space created by the contraction of the political centre ground in line with the crisis of neoliberalism, its economic reflection, is most assuredly not a cause for celebration. Instead it should ring an historical alarm bell and wake us up to the danger which is now in our midst.

The possibility of a high number of abstentions and/or spoiled ballots on May 23rd cannot be dismissed either, what with the abject failure of Theresa May’s government to negotiate a deal with Brussels of sufficient…