Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call snap parliamentary elections earlier this summer “must rank as one of the most stupid decisions that any leader has made in the last five years”, Kwasi Kwarteng said.
The former Chancellor told Express.co.uk that President Macron was a “lame duck” and blamed him for political “mess” France is now in, as the country’s Prime Minister Michel Barnier faces his second no-confidence motion after just 90 days in office.
Mr Kwarteng, who served as Chancellor in Liz Truss’ government, said that France is in “total chaos” and that it was the 46-year-old president’s doing.
“He’s completely sabotaged himself”, Mr Kwarteng said. “He had a majority, he blew that up unnecessarily and he’s left with this mess. He’s got two and a half years of his term in which he’ll be a lame duck.”
Veteran Tory MP Sir John Hayes also attacked the French President, saying France’s political maelstrom was “illustrative of when you have a dodgy Blair-like politician running the country”.
Asked whether he thought the demise of Mr Barnier could bring about the end of Mr Macron too, he said: “I think Macron’s increasingly unpopular in France and understandably so, so it could well do [end Macron’s tenure].
“What France needs is what Britain needs – a properly conservative government and let’s hope that ends up being the result of all this.”
President Macron is immune from another presidential election until 2027. However, if Mr Barnier were to fall to the no confidence motion, Mr Macron’s leadership would come under even greater pressure. The French Prime Minister said on French television last night that the Presient should not resign to solve the political crisis, as he was a “guarantee of stability”.
The 73-year-old PM, who was the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, faces the motion of censure at 3pm today, after the radical left New Popular Front and hard right National Rally both put forward separate votes of no confidence.
Mr Barnier is expected to lose the vote, however he told French TV last night: “It’s not a question of political survival for me. I’ve been in this office for three months. I arrived there on September 5, telling myself that I could leave the next morning.
“This is the first time since 1958 that there is no majority at all. No majority possible between three major groups. I know that this is a fragile and ephemeral situation”, he added.
