European populists Rightwing parties nervous of backlash over support for Trump and Putin

Europe's rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president's brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.

- Patrick Wintour

Broadly, unease over Trump's treatment of Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries.

By contrast, in eastern Europe, where parts of the electorate view Russia sympathetically, support for Trump remains undimmed.

The populists may be right to be cautious about Trump. There are already signs that governments in countries where leaders have taken a pro-Ukraine line are enjoying a modest boost in support.

For instance, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Social Democrat prime minister, who has clashed with Trump by defending Greenland's sovereignty and backing arms for Ukraine, is enjoying her highest poll rating in a year.

In the UK, Keir Starmer has enjoyed a mini revival, while a YouGov poll shows 53% of Reform party voters now view Trump unfavourably, an increase of 25 points.

Prof William Hurst, a co-director of the Centre for Geopolitics, said: "Some of the populists' disorientation is that their focus is on domestic issues to leverage novel coalitions. What that means for foreign policy is that it leaves a giant question mark. There is no clear roadmap, except they are self-consciously transactional or unconventional."

Trump's natural bedfellows are finding this difficult, Hurst argues. For instance, Inger Støjberg, the leader of the Denmark Democrats, criticised Trump's treatment of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office: "Shocking and grotesque scenes from the White House in the USA. This is not the USA I know and love! Now we must support and back Ukraine and the Ukrainian people."