To see our plausible future, we don’t need a time machine: we can take a two-and-a-half-hour flight to central Europe. Unlike Britain’s Conservatives, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz began its political journey as a “centrist” party and a signed-up member of the Liberal International.
In power, it radicalised.The now hard-right authoritarian regime of Victor Orbán maintains the trappings of democracy – elections take place, opposition parties exist – but it has scorched away the substance.
Its favoured blunt instrument is the “culture war”: whether that’s whipping up bile against migrants – leading to condemnation from the Council of Europe for fuelling “xenophobic attitudes, fear and hatred” – or using coronavirus emergency degrees to de facto.