Last weekend, Hungary voted out Viktor Orbán and emerged, blinking, into the light after 16 years of living in what Orbán had branded an “illiberal democracy”. It was a credo shaped by the country’s seemingly forever leader, who was backed by Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and other Western hard-right figures.

Orbán’s vanquisher Péter Magyar – previously a loyalist, now centre right – does not have an unblemished personal or political record. As a lawyer called Ágnes told the BBC: “He’s someone you cannot be absolutely sure of, but we’re at a point where we need to hope for something better, which he promises – and we truly hope his promises come true.”

We hoped for that too when we elected Labour. Look what we got. While Hungarians were celebrating their liberation, Met police were swarming Trafalgar Square intimidating peaceful protesters who’d gathered to show support for Palestine Action and victims of the Middle Eastern wars.

Palestine Action was proscribed by the Home Office in July 2025. This February, a High Court ruled the ban unlawful. An appeal is pending. In the interregnum, the police stormed in and arrested 523 people aged between 18 and 87. Some were in wheelchairs, others elderly and disabled. They came because........

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