Any student of politics in Eastern and Central Europe soon discovers that there are layers of complexity which we in Western Europe often find difficult to grasp.
One of those layers concerns the region’s attitude to Jews, which often seems to be based on different gradations of antisemitism, some implicit and some explicit.
But there is little implicit in the case of UKIP’s new ally in the European Parliament.
The leader of the Polish Congress of the New Right, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, says that Hitler was unaware of the Holocaust, attacks the “Holocaust industry” and says that Jews “are our worst enemies”.
UKIP says that it is not in alliance with the CNR and has simply joined forces with one of its MEPs, Robert Iwaszkiewicz, in his personal capacity.
Such an argument is especially risible from a party that claims to prefer plain speaking to the spin of the established parties. UKIP has made a choice to work with the representative of a party led by Mr Korwin-Mikke — a choice that was too much even for Marine Le Pen to contemplate.
That of course is its right. But the next time Nigel Farage says that his party will have no truck with racism or racists, be clear: that is a lie.
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