Le Pen needed a knock-out. Macron won on points. Last night’s French presidential election debate was far from the 2017 walkover but Macron, harrying and interrupting, threw the far right leader off her stride. An Elabe poll today made him the victor by 59%-39% 1/ 
Macron took risk of seeming aggressive & arrogant. At times he appeared tetchy, even angry. He came over as a bad-tempered professor dealing with a struggling student. Interrupting your opponent – “oh no Madame Le Pen…You mix up everything Madame Le Pen” – is always hazardous 2/
In the end though, Macron’s strategy wore Le Pen down. She landed some blows of her own. (Macron called her a “climate- sceptic” She called him a climate-hypocrite”). But by the end, she was struggling to properly finish her sentences 3/
Overall, she had planned to make the night – almost 3 hours of face-to-face confrontation – an investigation of Macron’s failings. He managed to quite rapidly turn it into an investigation of her links with Moscow and kept up his attacks until the end 4/
Macron landed an early blow when he accused her of being under Moscow’s control because of a not yet repaid €9m loan from a 🇷🇺 bank in 2015. “You are dependent on Russian state, you are dependant on Putin,” he said. “When you talk to Russia you are talking to your banker.” /5
Le Pen was calmer & better briefed than in 2017, although she became confused between quarterly & annual growth figures. She made coherent attacks on Macron’s record on education, health policy and security. But he unpicked her arguments on EU, cost-of-living & the economy 7/
On the EU, Le Pen fell into a trap. Macron said her EU policy amounted to a “false bill of goods”. Although she said she wanted to stay in the EU, her economic policy – including national preference on jobs and trade – would destroy the EU single market 8/
Le Pen replied that she wanted to stay in the EU but turn it into a loose club of “cooperating sovereign nations. “And so then it would no longer be the European Union,” Macron retorted 9/
The opinion polls gave Macron a circa 12-point lead 56-44% before last night’s debate. It may now increase a little before Sunday’s run-off. It’s always hazardous to call an election three days out but this one looks like it’s all over but for the voting ENDS
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