The French president dominated the centre ground but has failed to build a legacy there. Labour is in danger of doing the same
B
ritain and France do not share a fixed quota of political stability such that reduced volatility on one side of the Channel causes chaos across the water. It was just a coincidence that Keir Starmer won a huge majority at precisely the moment last July when legislative elections made France ungovernable for Emmanuel Macron.
It was a misfortune for both men, and for Europe, that their political trajectories were out of sync. Macron had dealt with four Tory prime ministers before finding a potential ally in the ascendant Labour leader. By then his presidency was in spiralling decline. Britain was rousing itself from Brexit delirium just as France was losing the plot.
The two conditions are not comparable in scale. France’s parliamentary paralysis is a big mess. Britain leaving the EU was a monumental calamity. But they are alike, as harms that were self-inflicted at the ballot box by arrogant leaders with misplaced confidence in their powers of persuasion.
