Emmanuel Macron kept everyone guessing until the very last minute of his long hunt for a prime minister. With the National Assembly irreconcilably divided into three camps after snap legislative elections in July, the French president courted candidates from the center, left and right, discarding name after name as unviable.

And then, almost 60 days after a poll that delivered an inconclusive victory for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, Macron announced on Thursday a selection that few would have predicted: conservative old hand Michel Barnier.

A former European Commissioner and the head EU negotiator with post-Brexit Britain, Barnier hails from the traditional center-right Republican party. The 73-year-old is perhaps better known outside of France than in his home country, where his most recent power play was a failed presidential bid in 2022 marked by overtures to the hard right on immigration.

Those in the New Popular Front, which rapidly bundled together disparate forces from the radical and center left, including Greens and Communists, in a bid to stave off a victory for Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, was up in arms.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of hard-left France Unbowed, decried Barnier as the "usurper of Matignon", referring to the official residence of the French prime minister. Manuel Bompard, France Unbowed's coordinator, also slammed the choice on Friday. "If you finish last, you don't get the gold medal. Emmanuel Macron has decided to name a prime minister whose party got 6% in the most recent........

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