Europe’s Far Right Is Winning the Culture War — Because the Left Keeps Playing Defence

It’s never a good sign when Nigel Farage looks like he’s having fun. There he is again, pint in one hand, culture war in the other, grinning like a man who’s just discovered xenophobia is tax‑deductible. Across Europe, from Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the right has stopped pretending to govern and started performing — and somehow, it’s working.

The new politics of the continent is less about policy than vibes: who can be the most offended by progress. In Germany, AfD recently polled around 15.9 % in the 2024 European Parliament elections and is now a serious contender ahead of national polls. In Italy, Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) secured over 27 % of the vote in EU elections, making it the largest single party in a major Western European country. France’s Rassemblement National (RN) under Marine Le Pen got upwards of 30 % in recent polls, becoming the first‑place party in several regions. And in Austria it’s the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) bidding high in national votes.

Their secret? Fear. Not even sophisticated fear — just the reheated stuff: immigrants, Muslims, “woke” culture, “elites”. It’s populism as pantomime, and every villain needs a boo‑hiss target. When the economy flatlines, blame the refugee in a dinghy. When public services crumble, blame the pronouns. It’s distraction politics, and it’s catching because it’s easy.

But the greater tragedy is that the left keeps showing up to this brawl armed only with apologies. Across Europe, progressive parties seem convinced that moral clarity is impolite. The far right screams that Western civilisation is collapsing, and the UK’s Labour Party responds with a carefully costed plan for modestly expanding bus routes. You can’t out‑accountant a fascist.

Keir Starmer’s Labour is a perfect case study in political self‑neutering. Faced with Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza, the party that once marched for peace could barely whisper for a ceasefire. The moral vacuum was deafening. Had Labour taken a firm, human stance — not a mealy‑mouthed one — it might have drawn a line between genuine leadership and moral cowardice. Instead, Starmer opted for “caution,” which apparently now counts as ideology.

Meanwhile, Europe’s centre‑left parties are terrified of being called “soft on immigration” as if empathy were a communicable disease. They try to mimic the right’s talking points in the hopes of appearing “tough” — not recognising that you can’t out‑tough a demagogue. For every Farage photo‑op in a pub, there’s a Labour press release reaffirming “the concerns of ordinary people about migrants”. You won’t win by copying the villain.

The irony is that the far right claims to champion “the working man,” but wouldn’t recognise him unless he came gift‑wrapped in a flag. It’s pure theatre: rage at Brussels while voting for corporate tax breaks; promise sovereignty while selling national assets to billionaires; cry about free speech while banning books. Even in rural Italy, in a town like Salizzole, support for Meloni topped 50 % in areas hit hardest by factory closures and immigration – the perfect storm of economic anxiety meets cultural resentment. The left’s mistake has been to treat this as a debate of ideas rather than a con job.

And yes, the culture war is a con — one that preys on exhaustion. Since the 2015 “migrant crisis” (over 1.3 million asylum seekers entered Europe) the far right has had a playing field. After years of austerity, pandemic chaos, and cost‑of‑living panic, people are angry and scared. The right gives them villains to blame; the left gives them spreadsheets. You can’t fill a moral vacuum with PowerPoint.

What Europe’s progressives need isn’t another focus group — it’s a backbone. Stop apologising for compassion. Stop equating decorum with substance. Call racism racism. Call war crimes war crimes. And for the love of social democracy, rediscover solidarity. Working people don’t need another lecture about fiscal responsibility; they need someone to say clearly, “you are being conned by people who hate you, or at the very least are indifferent to your suffering.”

Farage will keep laughing, of course. He’s made a career out of pretending he’s not part of the establishment while being on first‑name terms with everyone in it. The culture war is his game, and he’s winning because the left refuses to play anything but defence.

But here’s the thing about defending forever: eventually you forget what you’re defending. Europe’s right wing thrives on nostalgia for a past that never existed. Maybe it’s time the left started offering a future that actually could.