The scene summed up a bewildering weekend for the conservative Les Républicains (LR). On BFM-TV's set, LR's Jonas Haddad was asked on Sunday, October 12, about the fate of his party's ministers whose names were circulating insistently for entry into the government. "The political bureau will decide," said Haddad, one of the party's spokespeople.

Around 10 pm, the announcement of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's new team was still fresh when the party issued a statement excluding all ministers from its ranks: "LR members who have agreed to join the government can no longer claim to represent LR. They immediately cease their functions in our leadership bodies, which we will convene in the coming days to make a final decision."

It was not the first time LR was angered by President Emmanuel Macron's poaching. There had been several waves of that even before Macron was forced to work with LR starting in 2024, having no majority in Parliament. But that already feels like distant history. Today, the six LR members in Lecornu's new cabinet are like so many thorns in the side of the party's president, Bruno Retailleau, who had himself served as interior minister since September 2024.

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