Michel Barnier: how Mr Brexit rose from the ashes of Emmanuel Macron’s fire to become French prime minister

By Paul Smith, Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of Nottingham

When it was announced that Michel Barnier was France’s new prime minister, commentators joked that he was better known to the British public than to the French. There’s more than a grain of truth in this.

The name of the former chief EU Brexit negotiator would raise a nod of recognition in many British households (for good or ill). In France, Barnier was a peripheral right-wing politician.

His appointment has nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with the state of French politics since president Emmanuel Macron’s bewildering decision in June to

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