In those elections the "far right" Front National and its dynamic, attractive leader Marine Le Pen captured a quarter of the vote in France and helped limit the share of that vote won by Francois Hollande and his leftist coalition to 14%. In Britain the United Kingdom Independence Party gained more votes than the Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat parties and, like the FN, garnered about a quarter of the votes that were cast. The UKIP, under its leader Nigel Farage, seeks to limit the social benefits awarded to immigrants, hopes to remove Britain from effective control by the EU and favors something like the school voucher system that is touted by Republican politicians in the US.

These elections change nothing internally in the countries where they took place. Although a barometer of changing public opinion, especially about immigration, they don't alter the balance of power in England or France. Those who were in charge before the elections are still running governments. Moreover, the victory of the UKIP in Britain cannot possibly be seen as a triumph for what the media describe as the "far Right."