Corbyn support shows danger of French Left, claims Macron ally

ACCEPTING support from “antisemitic” former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn shows that France’s main Leftist party is a danger to the French Republic, one of Emmanuel Macron’s ministers said yesterday.

Mr Corbyn caused a stir when he paid a visit to Paris last week to back two parliamentary candidates from the France Unbowed party led by Leftist firebrand Jean-luc Mélenchon – often dubbed a French Corbynite.

One of the pair, Danielle Simonnet, tweeted her “emotion” and “pride” in welcoming Mr Corbyn, 73, whose leadership was accused in an independent Equality and Human Rights Commission report in 2020 of having failed “to prevent anti-semitism and at worst, could be seen to accept it”.

The two candidates who received Mr Corbyn are part of a wider Left-green coalition called NUPES, which made spectacular gains in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections.

That coalition is threatening to deny Mr Macron’s “Ensemble” (Together) alliance in the second round of polls this weekend, prompting the president and his ministers to go on the attack against what they call “extremist” candidates.

Yesterday, Clément Beaune, Mr Macron’s Europe minister, who is fighting a closely fought race for a seat in Paris against NUPES rival Caroline Mécary, told a radio show: “There are candidates… including the one I am fighting against… who thought it a good idea to invite Jeremy Corbyn, who is anti-semitic and pro-assad.”

Mr Macron himself appealed to voters for a “solid majority” in Sunday’s vote, warning against adding “French disorder to global disorder.”

He said “the months ahead will be difficult” but called for people to back him in the name of “the higher national interest” and “common sense”.

“In these troubled times, the choice you have to make this Sunday is more crucial than ever,” he added.

Mr Macron’s visit this week to Romania and neighbouring Moldova has come in for criticism at home given the domestic electoral stakes.