A question for the Milanese right: why are you so determined to lose?

Having suffered a crushing defeat 15 years ago, Milan is not a city the right can easily contest. It is the regional government that is right-wing, not the city council. And yet, amidst the toxic atmosphere created by building scandals, the social resentment of the ‘excluded’, a sense of insecurity caused by petty urban crime and the palpable decline of the suburbs, if there is ever a favourable opportunity for the right to retake Palazzo Marino – or at least to give it a proper go, unlike last time with that hapless surgeon Bernardo – this is it. And yet, all the right-wing parties seem to be competing to lose. It is difficult to believe they are not doing so deliberately. A suicidal political choice.

Ignazio La Russa, the Lombardy regional leader of Fratelli d’Italia, has long been backing Maurizio Lupi’s candidacy; Lupi would indeed be a suitable candidate, but he is not a member of La Russa’s party. Furthermore, he is unpopular with Forza Italia and the Lega. After a period of silence, even Meloni has vetoed the idea (although La Russa’s manoeuvre had its own cynical logic: if Lupi loses, it is the others who have lost, not Fdi). The Lega has neither cards to play nor electoral clout in the city, and Salvini has other things on his mind: he has been rambling on about ‘civic candidates’ – whom we have never seen. The decisive showdown between the Lega and Fdi will instead take place at the Pirellone, the seat that truly matters: what does it matter about a city with more problems than funds, and which does not even want us? Even Forza Italia has persistently clung to the far-fetched idea of a ‘civic’ candidate, without finding one and without realising that ‘civic’ figures – whether hospital directors or university rectors – willing to start from 17 points down in the polls to challenge Majorino or Calabresi simply cannot be found, not even if you paid them. Letizia Moratti put forward Carlo Cottarelli, who, incidentally, is from the PD camp. The proposal fizzled out before it even took off. Pietro Tatarella would be a far better choice, but for reasons that remain unclear, FI cannot tolerate him. Albertini has put forward the “Panino Giusto” candidate, Antonio Civita, who lacks the stature required for such a challenge. Then there is Vannacci’s general, but in Milan, the public has not looked kindly on generals since the days of Bava Beccaris.

One might speculate on the reasons behind such a suicidal strategy: the right is interested in Rome and the Quirinale, and having a city like Milan that it can bombard with populist invective is more convenient than actually having to govern it. Among the major parties, the real contest is over who will lose the worst, so that they cannot lay claim to the regional government in a year’s time, nor to too many ministries should they win the general election. In short, you go ahead and choose the name – just make sure the embarrassment falls on you. Perhaps – and we hope so – there is a more serious reason behind the difficulty in finding a single, suitable candidate. We have asked the question; we await a response from the centre-right parties.