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Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
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29 Nov, 6 tweets, 2 min read
The Spectator, once grouchily intelligent, stopped being a “spectator” and turned into a political hooligan some time ago. It never has a civil word for anything French, except to lionise a racist like Eric Zemmour 1/

spectator.co.uk/article/immigr…
They make an odd couple, The Spectator and Zemmour. The mag hates the French. He detests the cultural hegemony of “Les Anglos Saxons”. In this otherwise unrevealing interview, the Speccie mocks Zemmour’s French accent, while boosting him 2/
In any case, Zemmour is on the way, it seems, to be the first candidate to lose a French presidential race before entering it. He plans to declare on 5 Dec but his autumn surge in the polls is fading badly 3/
A sixth opinion poll in succession shows his 1st round support falling (down 2-3 points to 14-15%) 4/

lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/pre…
Two events in recent days may damage him further. He gave the middle finger to a woman in Marseille who had insulted him in precisely the same way. Zemmour was then heard to mumble “and very deeply too” 5/
Zemmour, who is 63 and married, has also failed in a legal bid to stop Closer mag from publishing an article saying that his 28 years old campaign manager and girlfriend, Sarah Knafo, is pregnant
ENDS

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More from @Mij_Europe

Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
26 Nov
What a sorry sight to see two great countries, or at least their leaders, fighting like school-kids only two days after the calamity in the Channel in which at least 27 refugees died. Both Johnson & Macron merit some of the blame. But this is mostly down to Johnson 1/
His first reaction after the disaster, after mumbling a few words about his thoughts for the families of those drowned, was to blame France. This was a direct appeal to French-bashing tabloid fury. The Mail online splash the next day was “This is down to you, Macron” 2/
He then had a lengthy phone conversation with @EmmanuelMacron yesterday in which, according to senior French sources & media reports, both men agreed to think afresh about how to reduce the number of flimsy boats crossing 30 treacherous kilometres of sea 3/
Read 17 tweets
Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
25 Nov
Italian politics is about to get very interesting - volatile? - again. It all hangs on a decision Mario Draghi has to make in Jan: whether to transition to the Presidency or remain PM until 2023. His decision will carry big implications for Italy - & Europe 1/
Since becoming PM, Draghi has moved steadfastly to articulate & implement reforms in exchange for Italy’s €191.5 billion in EU pandemic recovery funds. He has also elevated Italy's voice in EU debates - & not simply those related to economic policy 2/
But Italy’s political world is now consumed with horse-trading over the election of its next president, who must be elected by MPs to replace Sergio Mattarella in late Jan, assuming he is not re-elected for a second term - an option he seems determined to avoid 3/
Read 25 tweets
Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
24 Nov
A Downing Street spokesperson:
 
“The Prime Minister spoke to Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin this afternoon.
 
“The Taoiseach began by congratulating the Prime Minister on the success of the COP26 Summit. The Prime Minister thanked Ireland for its support and the leaders agreed
that the Summit marked a step change in tackling climate change around the world. The leaders also discussed their countries’ respective fights against coronavirus.
 
“The Prime Minister raised his ongoing concern about the substantial distance between the UK and EU positions 2/
when it comes to resolving the issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Protocol was rightly keeping North-South trade open but its implementation was damaging the much larger East-West dimension. We could not allow a situation to develop in which the Government was unable
Read 8 tweets
Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
19 Nov
Momentum towards Article 16 has gone. If anything, it’s now in reverse.  Johnson and Frost are now going to call it in the new year. See where negotiations and land lies in January 1/
This is purely about political context. As one Tory MP says, “Article 16 has to be done from a position of strength but Boris is suddenly in a much weaker state. He could have done it at Conference when he was riding high. The whole party would have rallied behind him.. ” 2/
“Now it would look like a desperate diversionary tactic.” But even though steam has gone out of it, this phase could prove to be tactical - until @BorisJohnson has less on his plate. It's doubtful there has been a major change of heart in UKG regarding Protocol 3/
Read 6 tweets
Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
18 Nov
The soaraway, undeclared, French, presidential campaign by the racist pundit Eric Zemmour is no longer soaring. A fourth opinion poll in ten days shows a small drop in support for Zemmour (who is in London tomorrow 👀) 1/4

lesechos.fr/elections/pres…
The Opinonway poll for Les Echos and Cnews (the right wing TV channel where Zemmour used to pontificate nightly) shows him dropping to 12% of voting intentions  before the first round next April 2/4
This is only a 1 point fall on last month but four different polls in a row have now shown Zemmour falling by 1 to 2 points after an unbroken rise in Sept and Oct (reaching as high as 18% in one survey) 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Mujtaba Rahman Profile picture
11 Nov
Overwhelmed by frequency & variations of French polls? Huff Post has performed a public service by averaging leading polls over many months. It has arranged trends into a fascinating, moving graphic showing changing configurations of the major players 1/

huffingtonpost.fr/entry/presiden…
Key points. President Macron has been floating ahead of the pack in first round voting intentions for several months on 23 to 25 %. The only major change has been the rise of the racist pundit Eric Zemmour, who shot from 5% to 17%  in a couple of weeks, taking votes mostly.. 2/
... but not entirely from Marine Le Pen and overtaking  her  in some polls. Zemmour has stopped rising in the last month, however, and now averages 17.5%, just ahead of MLP 3/
Read 4 tweets

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