In the end, it wasn’t even close. On Monday, François Bayrou, the outgoing French Prime Minister, tried to face down his opponents in the National Assembly and press ahead with controversial budget measures. Despite an impassioned plea, he lost 364 votes to 194. Emmanuel Macron has just appointed his fifth prime minister in two years. To paraphrase Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest: to lose one prime minister may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose four just looks like carelessness. In Britain, Keir Starmer is in a difficult position. Despite a decisive victory in the UK…