Episode Details

Right-wing populist parties are surging across Europe -- and Germany is at the centre of the upheaval. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has made major gains in recent state elections, challenging the dominance of Germany’s established political parties. What is driving this revolt against the political establishment -- and why is it happening now?

To make sense of the populist ascendancy, Tom Switzer speaks with Simon Heffer, aka Lord Blackwater, one of Britain’s leading political and cultural historians and columnist during the past four decades..

Why has support for the established parties collapsed? How important are immigration, economic stagnation and declining competitiveness? Why has the AfD, France’s Le Pen and Nigel Farage’s Reform party attracted voters from the traditional working-class constituencies. Are they really neo-Nazis, as some of their detractors allege? And what does the rise of the populist right tell us about the future of European politics?