Matteo Perego di Cremnago, a candidate without full powers

It was meant to be the opening move of his election campaign, on the vast, turbulent chessboard of security in Milan. A fine Queen’s Gambit, and the white (or rather, blue) knight wins in two moves. After all, he is the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, and alongside Guido Crosetto, he had believed in it. To cross the Rubicon of the electoral challenge – which, up to that point, had seen him appear only on a few rather uneventful neighbourhood walks – and to turn up in Milan with 500 additional military personnel, equipped with judicial police powers.

According to the ‘fascistometer’ in La Repubblica, it would even have been a ‘Chilean turning point’. In reality, it was far less than that, but there was a niggling doubt that it might not work. Mattarella, in tandem with Piantedosi, stepped in to say no: the expansion of the military’s powers under the ‘Safe Roads’ programme has been blocked. It is now up to Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Forza Italia’s mayoral candidate, to devise a new strategy. Or a knight’s move. Not least because Beppe Sala, who only the day before had warned of “militarisation”, changed his tune yesterday: “We need crackdowns.” The security camp is getting crowded.