In the end, Emmanuel Macron's man wasn't able to pull it off either.

When Sébastien Lecornu was appointed France's prime minister three and a half weeks ago, the spin was that this was President Macron's last card.

A last card, we were told, but a good one.

The 39-year-old was a presidential protégé - loyal, modest, undemonstrative. It was thought he had what it took to fix a discreet deal between the parties and save French politics from implosion.

But as it turns out, that wasn't the case.