Macron’s days of glory may soon be at an end

WHEN he came to office against the odds and the predictions President Emmanuel Macron across the Channel had the high hopes of many.

Alas he has revealed himself as another false hope. His New Year sneer at the British reveals a bitterly disappointed man.

He had hoped that the intransigence of the EU Commission, led by himself and his man Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, would either panic Boris Johnson into abandoning Brexit altogether or inflict such draconian terms that the UK would be ruined or retained as a helpless servitor of the EU – i. e. Paris- enforced – rule book.

But Downing Street held its nerve and it was Germany that finally elbowed Macron aside, took over via Ursula von der Leyen and ended Brexit with a modus vivendi we can both live with and prosper under.

Over the years we have disbursed many hundreds of billions in payments to the EU and Paris has always – since de Gaulle – ensured that a fat portion came its way. Those days are now gone which leaves Macron with an Eiffel Tower- sized headache. How to replace those terminated subventions from old Blighty?

His popularity slumps; on the streets dissatisfaction ( as manifested by the Yellow Weskits) fails to ebb; elections loom; his opponents re- emerge. “Enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivée” runs the national anthem. Well, his own may soon hit the departure lounge. Let me raise a glass of claret. I have nothing against the vintners of Bordeaux!