For much of the post-1945 era it was axiomatic that Europe’s centre-right parties were hostile to Russia. Charles De Gaulle frightened France by saying the Red Army was ready to strike only the distance of two stages of the Tour de France from French borders. Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first chancellor, refused to recognise any state that talked with Russia’s satellite east of the Berlin Wall. Britain’s Margaret Thatcher endorsed the “empire of evil” language about Russia, while Germany’s Helmut Kohl faced down huge demonstrations against US missiles aimed to counter Soviet short-range nukes. By contrast, the European left spent much of its time finding excuses for whatever the Kremlin wanted.

Today, there has been an odd reversal. The biggest supporters of prime minister Vladimir Putin and president Dmitry Medvedev as they shape a new authoritarianism and try to alter Europe’s frontiers by force are leaders of the centre-right. While Silvio Berlusconi patronises Barack Obama for his “sun tan”, the Italian prime minister has only smiles for Mr Putin. Germany’s Angela Merkel went to Tibilisi as Russian tanks rolled past the disputed enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and appeared to show solidarity with the beleaguered Georgians by saying they could join Nato. Back in Berlin, the chancellor’s briefers claimed she meant no such thing.