Schlein takes centre stage. The secretary caught between Renzi and Onorato

Rome. From ‘Occupy PD’ to ‘Occupy Schlein’. The question is: who is occupying whom? Sources close—very close, in fact—to the Conte-Onorato axis speak of a recent flirtation with Elly. The theory, broadly speaking, is the one hinted at in these pages by Antonio Padellaro. Namely, that Schlein and Conte have also reached an agreement on the centrists – and therefore on the Roman councillor Alessandro Onorato – and that Renzi is now moving towards the PD. Who knows.

The fact remains, however, that the story goes so far as to reconstruct an altercation – however fleeting – between Renzi and Schlein. The latter, it was said, had contacted Onorato to ask him to consolidate the centre, not least with a view to the primaries. Consequently, the councillor – a ‘digital twin’ of Conte and Mangiafuoco Bettini – is said to have now committed to bringing all the centrists together on a single list. Keeping Renzi out – that is his red line – and incorporating the others, from Ruffini downwards.

In this way, with just one centre rather than five or six, it would be easier for Schlein to reach the run-off. And from there, it’s anyone’s game. According to this bold theory—neither confirmed nor denied by the Democratic Party—over the past fortnight Schlein has reportedly been unwilling to tolerate Renzi’s efforts to undermine Conte. And Renzi, for his part, is said to have reacted in typical Renzi fashion. How? Frankly, by not giving a damn. Who knows.

At the moment, however, whilst uncertainty looms over the political centre, what is certain is that the former prime minister had, at the time, sought to forge an alliance with Onorato (in typical Renzi style, of course). He is said to have told his supporters: “We could have discussed a list that included him too, until he called me a ‘bad teacher’”. And again: “I can accept that someone might not know the rules of politics, but not the history of this country.” What will Renzi’s supporters do? “We’ll stand as candidates on the ‘Casa Riformista’ list. Our doors are open to everyone, and we’ll make that clear at the Leopolda too.” Onorato? “Let him stand with his own list, as he has always said he wanted to do.”

When Schlein did, in fact, ask Renzi to agree to the joint list – the day after the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, had withdrawn from it – the Rome councillor had evoked the ‘Years of Lead’ (Toni Renzi Negri), and the leader of Italia Viva had therefore chosen not to take part in the Progetto Civico protest against the ‘Melonellum’. At the street demonstration, that is, where Giuseppe Conte and the Democratic Party’s Senate group leader Francesco Boccia were present, but where Secretary Elly Schlein was absent (just to add to the mystery: which side is she on?).

At the Leopolda, however, Benedetto Della Vedova, Vincenzo Spadafora and several mayors will be present, but certainly not Onorato, nor Riccardo Magi, nor indeed the secretary of the Socialist Party, Enzo Maraio.

As for the rest, virtue lies at the heart of things. But the heart of things, as always, is very crowded. On the one hand, the row that some call ‘a load of rubbish’; on the other, ‘the insubstantial aspiring MP’. Onorato, who ‘speaks like Conte, dresses like Conte’, a bit like Patroclus with Achilles. Let us only hope, in Christopher Nolan’s Homeric year, that Conte’s wrath does not cause Elly to meet the same fate as Hector. Because then, rather than just one or two lists, we would have the Trojan War. And as for the horse on the left, we all know who it is.