As an architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, Steve Bannon knows a thing or two about unconventional political warfare. Now the godfather of the US alt-right is gearing for combat in Europe. His arena is the campaign for the next European Parliament elections, scheduled for May 23-26 2019. His chosen weapons, as in the US, are set to be the stoking of social tensions, economic nationalism, incitement of public anger at elites, systematic attempts to discredit reasoned argument and the spread of misinformation.

Mr Bannon is forming an organisation, under the innocent-sounding name of The Movement, which will serve as an inspiration, tool and potential financial vehicle for the support of radical rightist parties across the soon-to-be 27-nation EU. Some of these parties are already strong in their own right. Italy’s League holds power at national level and has emerged since May as the country’s most dynamic, if divisive political force.

France’s National Rally, formerly known as the National Front, is licking its wounds after losing last year’s presidential contest, but it won the most seats in the last EU elections of 2014. The rightwing populist Alternative for Germany is the main opposition party and third-largest overall in the Bundestag. The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats have recently risen to the top of opinion polls ahead of September’s Swedish parliamentary elections. Not all such parties will seek to borrow from Mr Bannon’s sulphurous arts, but it is clear that the European radical right is anything but a declining force.