Macron triggers row for attack on jobless

EMMANUEL MACRON, the president of France, has sparked a political furore for suggesting unionists and staff at a factory protesting against job losses stop “wreaking f------ havoc” and look for work elsewhere.

The opposition – from far-left to farright – criticised the president for “arrogance” and “contempt” from someone born with a “golden spoon in his mouth”.

But commentators said the apparently off-the-cuff aside was in fact the latest in a string of carefully choreographed outbursts to show he is getting France moving. His spokesman said his expression, which could also be translated as “s---stirring”, merely reflected “what many French people think”.

Mr Macron’s remark was aimed at unionists and workers at the threatened GM&S car parts plant, more than half of whose employees face losing their jobs in a takeover.

As he was making a visit to a training facility in the Creuse department of central France, a local socialist official informed him that another factory, some 93 miles away from the threatened GM&S plant, was having problems hiring workers.

Mr Macron responded: “There are some who, rather than wreaking f-----havoc, would be better off seeing if they could get a job there because some of them have the right qualifications.”

As he spoke, a group of GM&S workers staged a noisy protest outside, which descended into scuffles with riot police. Last month, a local court authorised a takeover bid that aims to maintain just 120 of the site’s 276 jobs.

Mr Macron, whom the Left has branded “the president of the rich” for pushing through tax cuts for the most wealthy, came under instant fire from opposition politicians and unions.