Macron now isolated

FACADE: FRENCH LEADER'S ALL SMILES THOUGH SEETHING IN PRIVATE

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President Emmanuel Macron weathered a turbulent political summer, but he feels isolated and is frustrated with his new right-wing government.

Macron's appointment of 73-year-old conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister ended two months of political chaos after snap elections in July.

In line with his new role under the power-sharing arrangement, the centre-right president has taken a back seat on the domestic front, letting Barnier name a Cabinet and concentrating on foreign policy.

In public, the 46-year-old Macron is all smiles, but in private, he has been seething.

“I did not choose this government,” Macron told a trusted confidante.

“They make me feel ashamed,” the president said of some of the most conservative ministers.

The most hardline member of the new government, interior minister Bruno Retailleau, stirred controversy just days into the job, vowing to crack down on immigration and saying “the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred”.