British people have been betrayed and it's fuelling Farage - Kwasi Kwarteng

Sure, there are some nasty types in this new wave of political activity. Thugs, racists and unsavoury people. But that doesn’t explain what is actually going on.

The rise of the populists has not simply come out of the blue. It took decades, in fact, for people’s anger across Europe to fuel the rise of these parties.

For years, the liberal establishment told the people that concerns about immigration were racist or xenophobic. Contrary to what some on the Left think, the United Kingdom, broadly, has been relatively successful at absorbing people from different races and faiths.

A lot of that success was due to the history and legacy of the British Empire. Britain has been global for centuries. The Netherlands, France and Spain are like Britain in this respect.

Yet most other European countries do not have this history. Germany, for instance, was stripped of its colonies in World War 1. It was defeated when it sought to build a European empire in World War 2.

Germany has absorbed more migrants than any country in Europe. This, in turn, has led to the revival of the 'far right'. Many of these activists are openly neo-Nazi in their political sympathies.

This is hardly surprising, given that nation’s troubled past. Hitler is still within living memory, after all.

The AfD, the main vessel of the 'far right', is currently around 20 per cent in the polls.

It has never been more popular. It was only founded in April 2013, but today it stands in second place in the polls, ahead of the SPD, the social democrats of Germany, whose leader, Olaf Scholz, heads the government.

In France, Marine Le Pen and her “National Rally” stand on the brink of power. Her party easily won the first round of parliamentary elections on 30 June this year. While it is true that her team were thwarted in the second round, coming third overall, she still holds the balance of power in the French National Assembly.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni, once denounced as a Fascist, has become the country’s first female Prime Minister and has brought a measure of calm to what is often a turbulent political scene in that country.

In all these countries people have grown fed up with pious orthodoxies and outdated dogmas. They have revolted against political correctness and wokery.

In our own country, Reform picked up just over 4 million votes in our recent general election.

That constituted 14.5 per cent of the vote.

While Reform only managed five seats, their impact simply devastated the Conservatives, costing them an estimated 60 seats.

Immigration and I would argue mass immigration in huge numbers has contributed to this.

Reform, of course, is not far right. Our greatest moment was fighting against the Nazis. Nigel Farage knows this.

He has a fascination with British history which I share. I find it frustrating that he is not fighting this socialist government from within the Conservative Party.

He says the Tories have betrayed Britain, however.

Many others regrettably agree with him. It is this sense of betrayal and loss which is fuelling the growth of populist movements across Europe.

This serves as a warning that all political parties, but particularly centre right parties, should pay attention to their core voters.

“Go woke, go broke” applies just as much in politics as in the world of business.