The Five Star Movement is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily described as populist, of the syncretic kind, due to its members' insistence that it has no place in the left–right political spectrum. The party is a proponent of green politics, progressivism and direct democracy.