Even in these strange political times, few conclusions have been more foregone than Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French election over hard-Right nationalist Marine Le Pen.
This was, as they say in these parts, a fait accompli.
Few conclusions, even in these strange political times, have been more foregone than last night’s victory of the fervently pro-European centre-Left Emmanuel Macron over the hard-Right nationalist Marine Le Pen.
For all that, there was a palpable sense of tension across France last night as voters waited to see the result of the strangest and nastiest presidential campaign in living memory: Macron 65.5 per cent, Le Pen 34.5 per cent.
The result, though a relief for the financial markets and the mainstream political class, was hardly an unalloyed triumph for the status quo.
France’s old two-party system has been obliterated by this election. And Madame Le Pen, leader in all but name of an overtly xenophobic nationalist party had doubled the vote which her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, collected in 2002 and won a third of the French electorate.
The result was mirrored in the tone of last night’s two grand finales. While the Le Pen camp locked themselves away at a boot-faced invitation-only wake restricted to hand-picked media in the French suburbs, Mr Macron had booked one of the grandest royal palaces in Europe – the Palais du Louvre, no less.
This was a coronation, after all, a pre-planned victory party – complete with rap artists, exotic masked dancers in gold cloaks and a pop festival-style set.
In scale and style, it was even more hubristic than New Labour’s champagne-popping all-nighter at London’s Royal Festival Hall in honour of Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.
Feted by thousands of screaming supporters, the youngest French leader since Napoleon Bonaparte – he’s just 39 – strode on to the stage last night, his blushing 64-year-old wife Brigitte looking on.
The European Union anthem Ode to Joy played as Emmanuel Macron arrived in the courtyard of Paris’s Louvre museum to deliver his election victory speech to thousands of supporters.
‘Tonight, France won,’ he said to rapturous crowds, adding that ‘Europe and the world are watching us.’
France’s first ladies, much more than the men, have been a colourful bunch lately. There was model-cum-singer Carla Bruni, married to Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by the rotating consorts of outgoing president Francois Hollande.
Mme Macron, the new president’s former drama teacher and boyhood crush, is the most interesting yet. Unlike America, where the First Lady plays a formal part in the White House administration, France has no designated role for a presidential spouse.
Mr Macron, however, has said he intends to create a formal Elysee Palace position for the woman he calls ‘my best friend’ and who calls herself ‘president of his fan club’ . Their friends know the mother-of-three as ‘Bibi’ .
No sooner had the result of French television’s extensive exit poll operation been announced at 8pm French time than the courtyard of the Louvre – with the famous glass pyramid at its centre – became a giant dance floor.
‘Macron is the man who is going to lead Europe in the future,’ said Francois Morin, 39, an entrepreneur, above the din. ‘Merkel is on the way out. He is the future for this country and for the EU.’
Somewhat surprisingly, the song that brought the house down was Englishman In New York.
Mindful that something more statesmanlike than a mega-disco might be expected for his first presidential pronouncement, Mr Macron appeared on television from a studio shortly after the result to address the nation.
Looking solemn, pale, possibly even a tad shocked, he pledged that he would serve with ‘humility’ and ‘respect’ for all, promising ‘to renew the links between Europe and its citizens’ .
Then it was on to the victory rally in front of the true believers at the Louvre.
Yet for all the euphoria and jubilant dance anthems, the really big shock had been the first round result, a fortnight back, when Mr Macron’s brand new En Marche (On the Move) political movement and Miss Le Pen’s angry nationalists formally killed off the grand old parties of Right and Left.
Mr Macron has now gone on to pull off one of the greatest democratic coups in post-war politics.
Never previously elected to anything and with no party machine, he now finds himself a key player on the world stage with a seat on the UN Security Council and a pivotal place at the European Union’s high table.
Brussels will certainly be delighted. Mr Macron had been the only candidate in this race promoting ever-closer European unity. His rallies had been the only ones at which European flags outnumbered French ones.
When it comes to Brexit (which he regards as ‘a crime’ ) and negotiations with Britain, he stands alongside those who favour the big stick rather than the big carrot.
Thirsty European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will have been pouring jubilant trebles last night.
So what else does Mr Macron’s election mean for Britain? Both he and his wife are good English speakers who have recently voiced their fondness for trips to London.
His British friends include former chancellor George Osborne, whom Mr Macron came to know during his short-lived spell as French finance minister, and the former EU Commissioner and arch-Remainer, Lord Mandelson.
On the campaign trail, he has made much of his roots in northern France and of growing up surrounded by those vast, stirring war cemeteries dotted along the Western Front.
While no doubt mindful of what Britain has sacrificed in two world wars, he is first and foremost a hard-headed ex-banker and graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’ Administration.
Sentiment is not on the syllabus at the prestigious and famously uncompromising public service academy which produces the top tier of France’s mandarin class.
Like other candidates, he has in the past said that he wants to renegotiate the Le Touquet border treaty whereby British Border Control staff can operate on French soil and vice versa.
If border controls were indeed pushed back from Calais to Dover, the principal beneficiaries would be the gangs of people-smugglers.
But, for now, he has more pressing matters at hand, like forming a government while having no political party from which to draw it.
