In August 2019, with his campaign against migrant settlements in full swing, Matteo Salvini addressed one of his rabid crowds during Lega Nord’s annual festivities. “The media’s problem is not really the machinery demolishing the f*cking gypsy’s house but their home affairs minister!” Three years later, Salvini’s attacks on Roma people are but a memory. The PR cow ran out of milk soon, although it was part of a series of gimmicks that further consolidated the racist, right-wing narrative dominating Italy. They were also rather convenient: his party was embroiled in corruption scandals of its own, amid scantily rebutted accusations of illicit financing from Russia. Today, he’s part of the triumvirate governing Italy but the polls have delivered their own demolition of Milan’s erstwhile playground bully, who lost a substantial chunk of his voting base to Giorgia Meloni and the visibly ailing Silvio Berlusconi; he has been handed infrastructure, missing out on a role as glorified salesman of cheeses and hams carrying the Made in Italy trademark. There are parallels to be drawn with our own home affairs minister, who, fresh from his wedding and honeymoon, anticipated the reopening...
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