For Michel Barnier, negotiating with the Tories will have seemed a breeze compared with his short stint as French prime minister. The EU’s former Brexit negotiator is on the cusp of watching his minority government fall to the hands of parliament, a first in this country since 1962.

It was always going to be an uphill battle to pass a budget while so far outnumbered by an opposition that goes from the far right to the far left. We will ask what the 73-year old conservative could have done differently, and whether it is all down to an unpopular president who hopes his political luck will carry him from Wednesday’s conclusion of a state visit to Saudi Arabia to Saturday’s reopening of Notre Dame without drawing too much attention during this major institutional crisis.

A crisis of Emmanuel Macron’s own making, argue critics. After seven years in power, the French president inexplicably called snap elections that instead of giving his center-right bloc a majority brought Marine Le Pen’s far right closer than ever to power. He still has got two years in power, so is too soon to ask if this marks the start of Macron’s twilight?