Hungary is not a role model for conservatives

One of the strangest phenomena of this period is that a certain breed of conservatives are now presenting Hungary as the model of Christian governance that the West should aspire to. That explains why this week you read more than you ever wanted to about the re-election of Viktor Orbán as prime minister of the small and dysfunctional European state last Sunday.

The case for Orbánism is that Mr. Orbán is fighting. His international reputation and some of his domestic successes stem from a series of heated political tussles with the grandees of the European Union in Brussels and in the other bloc member countries.