Outpoll | The crisis engulfing Emmanuel Macron contains a warning for Keir Starmer

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The crisis engulfing Emmanuel Macron contains a warning for Keir Starmer | Rafael Behr

The crisis engulfing Emmanuel Macron contains a warning for Keir Starmer | Rafael Behr

2 days ago7 min read10 comments

The political trajectories of Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, though separated by the Channel, offer a stark lesson in the perils of centrist governance without a durable foundation. Macron’s presidency, once a bastion of the European center, ascended by dominating the middle ground, yet his failure to cultivate a lasting legacy there has precipitated a crisis of governability, rendering France politically adrift.This was not mere coincidence that Starmer’s landslide victory in July, which promised a resolute end to Britain’s post-Brexit turmoil, occurred just as Macron’s legislative elections plunged his administration into paralysis. The historical parallel is unsettling: Britain emerges from its nationalist delirium seeking stability under Labour, while France, under a president who once seemed the epitome of modern European leadership, descends into legislative gridlock.This divergence is a profound misfortune for both nations and for the continent's strategic cohesion, as Macron, having navigated the volatile tenure of four consecutive Tory prime ministers, finally glimpsed a potential partner in Starmer only to find his own political capital evaporating. The warning for Starmer is explicit; capturing the center is an electoral tactic, but consolidating it requires building a coalition that transcends transient majorities.Macron’s initial triumph was built on the embers of traditional party structures, yet his inability to embed his movement, La République En Marche, into the political fabric left him vulnerable to resurgent forces on the flanks. Similarly, Starmer’s Labour has expertly occupied the vacuum left by a fractured Conservative party, but without a compelling, substantive agenda that addresses the underlying discontents—from economic inequality to public service decay—his mandate risks being as fragile as Macron’s.History provides ample precedent: the Third Way politics of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, for instance, achieved electoral success but often struggled with ideological legacy, their compromises sometimes alienating the very bases they sought to unite. Expert commentary from political scientists like Dr.Isabelle Laurent of the Sorbonne underscores that centrism, unless rooted in transformative policy and emotional connection, can devolve into mere managerialism, which fails to inspire lasting loyalty. The consequences for Europe are significant; a weakened France, coupled with a Britain still defining its post-Brexit role, undermines the EU’s capacity for unified action on issues from security to climate.As Starmer forms his government, he must look beyond the immediate euphoria of his majority and study Macron’s miscalculations: the illusion of a stable center can shatter when confronted with populist surges and public impatience for tangible change. The task ahead is not merely to govern, but to build an enduring political architecture that can withstand the inevitable shocks, lest Britain’s hard-won stability prove as ephemeral as the French president’s dominance.