The remarkable scandal threatening to topple the Czech Prime Minister

I have only personally encountered Andrej Babis – the billionaire Prime Minister considered the Czech Republic’s answer to Donald Trump – once. It was during, of all places, a lingerie runway show at Prague Fashion Week. Even amidst the booming music and assorted fashionistas, the buzz that greeted Babis was unmistakable. The only other thing which generated anywhere near as much interest that night was when an outfit malfunction left one of the models more exposed than planned – the crowd watched in astonishment as she carried on nonplussed. This strange occurrence seems as good a metaphor as any for what has befallen Babis in the months since then. Already scantily clad, his affairs are now laid bare for all to see, as he tries to ignore the public’s gaze with steely determination. And while the show goes on, in Prague at least, the Babis drama offers a tantalising insight into what might well be the next phase of Europe’s political evolution: having watched the populists rise, we now see one wobble and possibly even fall.