It's easy to find a homegrown Quisling

OUR VERY OWN QUISLING

Yesterday, as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, I watched a Norwegian movie called The King's Choice.  It portrayed some of the behind the scenes events during three days in April 1940 when Hitler's Germany invaded and occupied the country.  The government, and royal family, went into hiding.

In Oslo Vikdun Quisling, a name now synonymous with treachery, declared himself Prime Minister, despite having no support in the parliament.  His political career was one of consistent failure, but he was head of the Norwegian fascist party which had links to the Nazis, and would go on to head the puppet government for the rest of the war.

Quisling branded himself a 'patriot', but was only interested in power and the chances it provided him to persecute those he saw as enemies of the state.  Like the Nazis this list began with the Jewish people and moved on down through left wingers and any groups considered likely to oppose the regime.

Nothing remotely like that has happened in the UK.  Quisling's equivalent back then, Oswald Moseley, never came close to power - but might have had the German invasion plans succeeded.  Now the rise of neofascism in Europe and more widely makes one wonder if any similar situation could arise.

Most major European countries have had the sense to reject the far right, as recent elections in Holland and France have shown.  So too in the UK, where ukip have faded as an electoral force.  But in the US....

Trump is fascist in all but name, something clear from the political appointments he made on taking office.  Fortunately the US constitution is a lot more robust than that of Weimar, and the country's democracy should survive in spite of the resident of the White House.  But if it didn't....?  A UK that had moved out of the protection of the EU would soon be in big economic trouble.  You can just about imagine a Trump government suggesting they provide a bit of 'protection'.  But they'd need a puppet in charge here.

Taking Quisling as the model, it doesn't take much to arrive at the obvious candidate.  A far right leader, obsessed with patriotism and targeting minorities, with an unthinking cult following and close links to the fascists offering their protective umbrella.  Niggle Fuhrage fits the bill in every way.  That's our modern Quisling right there.