The Macron miracle

 Paris

While Theresa May flounders in a mess of her own making, Emmanuel Macron is striding out on to the sunlit uplands of French politics. Six decades after Charles de Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic, his seventh successor is charging ahead with his attempt to restore a quasi-monarchical authority to the occupant of the Elysée Palace. After three hollow presidencies, the 39-year-old hope of the European reformist centre is bent on turning the clock back in terms of presidential power with a broad-based electoral appeal, positioning himself above the sclerotic political world that has alienated most voters and blocked structural change in France since the 1980s. This has involved an audacious gamble that carried him to the presidency last month and has now set him on course for a crushing majority after the second round of the National Assembly elections this weekend. His new party, La République En Marche (REM), with its array of untried candidates, is heading for an overall majority of anywhere from 350 to 450 of the 577 seats, according to pollsters. Party managers now say they are worried that too many untried deputies will flock into the Palais Bourbon with excessive expectations of change. What a contrast to the mainstream centre-right Republicans, predicted to win 85-125 seats, the humbled Socialists with 20-35, the hard-left La France Insoumise (The Unbowed) with 11-21 and the National Front with as few as three to ten. A mixture of the presidential attraction factor and public disdain for the established parties has given a huge boost to the young contender, and he has been brilliant at making the most of every opportunity presented to him. So Macron should be in a strong position to push through his programme to reform the labour laws, cut corporate taxes and start reducing the state deficit.