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.<\/b>
\nThis 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u2013 the Palais du Louvre, no less.
This was a coronation, after all, a pre-planned victory party \u2013 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\u2019s champagne-popping all-nighter at London\u2019s Royal Festival Hall in honour of Tony Blair\u2019s 1997 landslide.
Feted by thousands of screaming supporters, the youngest French leader since Napoleon Bonaparte \u2013 he\u2019s just 39 \u2013 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\u2019s Louvre museum to deliver his election victory speech to thousands of supporters.
\u2018Tonight, France won,\u2019 he said to rapturous crowds, adding that \u2018Europe and the world are watching us.\u2019
France\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u2018my best friend\u2019 and who calls herself \u2018president of his fan club\u2019 . Their friends know the mother-of-three as \u2018Bibi\u2019 .
No sooner had the result of French television\u2019s extensive exit poll operation been announced at 8pm French time than the courtyard of the Louvre \u2013 with the famous glass pyramid at its centre \u2013 became a giant dance floor.
\u2018Macron is the man who is going to lead Europe in the future,\u2019 said Francois Morin, 39, an entrepreneur, above the din. \u2018Merkel is on the way out. He is the future for this country and for the EU.\u2019
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 \u2018humility\u2019 and \u2018respect\u2019 for all, promising \u2018to renew the links between Europe and its citizens\u2019 .
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\u2019s brand new En Marche (On the Move) political movement and Miss Le Pen\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u2018a crime\u2019 ) 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\u2019s 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\u2019 Administration.
Sentiment is not on the syllabus at the prestigious and famously uncompromising public service academy which produces the top tier of France\u2019s 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.
Theresa May was certainly keen to offer her congratulations and ensure a mature, workmanlike relationship. But it is Germany and the EU to whom Mr Macron will turn first.
For all the triumphalist, gyrating ballyhoo in Paris last night to celebrate the toppling of the old political order, no one seriously expects any radical change to the French way of doing things.
Mr Macron may be young and shiny and new but he is no Napoleon.
Meanwhile, the world\u2019s now gaze shifts across the Channel from the French election to the British one.
Whoever wins on June 8, it is safe to say that neither Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn nor any other party leader will have booked rappers, masked dancers or a royal palace in which to celebrate.<\/p>\n

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Similarity rank: 32<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0.4<\/div>\n

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