French expats go mad for Macron as would-be president visits London
MACRON-MANIA was today breaking out in London with more than 2,500 people set to hear a message of radical change from the French presidential contender.
Emmanuel Macron was due to promise hundreds of thousands of French citizens in London that he will transform France to make it a more attractive place to live and work.
At the meeting at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, he was set to offer a vision of his country which may lure some of the French bankers, restaurateurs and other workers in the capital back across the Channel.
Centrist Mr Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, supports the European Union but has challenged France’s 35-hour work week and warned that a lack of competitiveness is to blame for high unemployment and weak economic growth.
He was economic minister in Socialist president François Hollande’s government but quit last summer to launch his own campaign for the top job with his “En Marche” — On the Move — movement. Mr Macron has also vowed to be “pretty tough” on Brexit, arguing that there have to be “consequences” for the UK in order to safeguard the EU.
An estimated 250,000 French citizens live in London, including some who left France because of Mr Hollande’s tax policies.
Mr Macron’s pledge to shake up France’s political system is expected to resonate with the relatively young, globally minded French community in the city, many of whom feel bruised by Brexit and fear the farRight policies of Marine Le Pen.
Loren King, 26, moved to the UK at the age of 18 to study at Oxford University and now lives in Archway, working as an economic analyst. He said: “Macron is by far the best candidate, although I don’t know how much of that is a reflection of him or the other candidates being terrible.”
Louis Daillencourt, 26, a business developer from Westminster, said: “He is winning on a platform of being neither Right nor Left. Definitely at heart he is a liberal in the English sense of the word.”
Others voiced disillusionment with centre-Right candidate François Fillon who sank in the polls after the “Penelopegate” scandal, in which it is alleged €831,400 (£710,000) of public money was spent on “fake jobs” for his wife Penelope and family. Fillon has apologised for the payments but insisted they were all legal and that he had “nothing to hide”.
Eléonore Vidal, 28, a NGO project manager from Wandsworth, said she initially liked “serious and honest” Mr Fillon but is now reconsidering her vote.
Meanwhile, the latest poll showed National Front leader Ms Le Pen gaining ground on her main election rivals. The Opinionway survey had her easily beating her four main rivals to win the April 23 first round with 27 per cent of the vote.