German extremism holds a crucial lesson for the UK

Populist parties now pose the greatest danger to Germany and its chancellor, writes John Kampfner. Keir Starmer will need to leave his comfort zone if he is to avoid a similar fate

- John Kampfner

Whether they like it or not, Germans and Brits are beginning to resemble each other. Traumas at penalty kicks, delayed trains, stodgy food – and a style of dogged political leadership that is struggling to understand the populist threat.

Only a few years ago, it looked very different. The UK was mired in Johnsonian buffoonery, an ugly, arrogant incompetence. It was no wonder that the country from which I had fled (spiritually and – for part of the time – physically) after Brexit was described as the “party island” by my new compatriots in Berlin. Set against that was a German government under Angela Merkel that was trying seriously, if not always successfully, to combat the many problems it was facing: domestically and internationally.

Now Britain is earnest again. In Keir Starmer, it has a prime minister worthy of respect, while in Olaf Scholz, Germany has a chancellor who is floundering.

Scholz has described the elections last Sunday in the eastern regions of Saxony and Thuringia as “bitter”, as well he might. The far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) won in Thuringia, the first time a far-right party has won a regional election since the Second World War.