Macron should step down early and call presidential vote, says his first PM

Édouard Philippe's intervention comes a day after the French president's latest PM resigned just days into the role.

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Édouard Philippe's comments come after France's third prime minister in a year, Sébastien Lecornu, resigned on Monday after his bid to form a government fell apart.

Macron has asked him to make a last-ditch plan for stability by the end of Wednesday - but support for the French president appears to be waning even among his allies.

Philippe, who was prime minister from 2017-20 and now leads the centrist Horizons party, said he was "not in favour of his immediate and abrupt resignation", but that it was up to the president to live up to his mandate.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Attal - who leads Macron's Renaissance party and was prime minister for six months in 2024 - went on national TV on Monday night to say he "no longer understands the decisions made by the president of the republic".