Theresa May must stand up to Emmanuel Macron’s Brexit posturing

In this the 115th anniversary week of the Entente Cordiale, the French president and the British Prime Minister will meet twice, today at the Elysee Palace and tomorrow at the European Council in Brussels. But neither of those meetings will be to celebrate their countries friendship. When May goes to Paris and then to Brussels, she will instead be a woeful supplicant in the Brexit feuilleton. And the one thing the vicar’s daughter can count on is that she will be subjected to a severe bout of Macron lesson-giving and severe sermonising, as is his wont.

And yet Macron is hardly in a position of strength. Both leaders are battling domestic crises that come to a head this week. The British PM’s Brexit woes are only too well known. But yesterday, France saw the winding up of the Grand Débat National, established to deflate the yellow vest movement and consult the people on societal change.