More than 12 years had passed since François Bayrou's last appearance in the chamber of the Assemblée Nationale, in the spring of 2012. At the time, the president of the centrist MoDem party sat in the very last row as an independent who had broken with the conservatives of President Nicolas Sarkozy. But on Tuesday, December 17, in the government benches on the front row, he could finally taste his revenge.

Four days after strongarming President Emmanuel Macron into naming him prime minister, Bayrou was facing the Questions to the Government session alone. His cabinet has not yet been formed, and the now-caretaker ministers from his predecessor Michel Barnier's team are no longer accountable to the Assemblée. Behind Bayrou, his chief of staff, Nicolas Pernot, and his special adviser, Eric Thiers, were the main witnesses to this "one-man show" before the nation's representatives. For over an hour, and without notes, the prime minister defended himself as the 11 groups questioned him one by one.

Bayrou's first words were about himself. While the news cycle, and the lawmakers' questions, were dominated by the powerful cyclone that struck the French overseas territory Mayotte, the prime minister paused for a moment, before expressing his "emotion," "because it's been a long time since I last spoke in this Assemblée, which I have loved a lot." Bayrou took his time. He pledged to establish "respect" as a cardinal value for "those who sit on these benches, from one end of the political spectrum to the other," turning to the right, then to the left of the chamber. "I'm a staunch supporter of political pluralism," insisted the centrist.

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