Emmanuel Macron’s boy wonder poised to become France’s youngest ever PM: Openly gay Education Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, who rolled out ban on Muslim dress schools tipped to replace sacked ‘Iron Lady’ Elisabeth Borne

Emmanuel Macron is expected to name France’s new prime minister today, with the favourite candidate for the job believed to be 34-year-old Gabriel Attal.

After days of intense behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, France’s longest-serving woman Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned Monday evening, sparking a likely long-awaited cabinet reshuffle to reboot the final three years of Macron’s presidency.

Education Minister Attal quickly emerged as the favourite to succeed 62-year-old Borne, with Macron expected to make the announcement this morning.

If he is confirmed, Attal – dubbed a ‘Mini Macron’ – would at just 34 years of age become France’s youngest prime minister, and the first to be openly gay.

He is a close ally of Macron’s who became a household name after being appointed government spokesman during the COVID pandemic.

Once a member of France’s socialist party before joining Macron, Attal was a junior finance minister and became education minister in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Macron’s most savvy ministers, at ease on radio shows and in parliament.

Since taking over as Education Minister, he has made a number of high-profile moves including a ban on Muslim dress in schools, a decision that pleased the Right.

The ban on the abaya – a loose fitting, full-length robe that covers the whole body – was seen as a strong statement amid Macron’s recent troubles.

The French President’s second term has been mired by riots that broke out in the summer over racial tensions between French police and the country’s youth.

He has also been heavily criticised for raising the pension age from 62 to 64, rejecting opposition calls for a referendum on the issue.

Borne was also tainted by the issue, which saw angry protests across the country, after she used a special procedure to push the pension age rise through the National Assembly without a vote in March 2023.

Meanwhile, Attal has moved to address teacher shortages and salary disputes, which has only served to increase his popularity.

‘If it is indeed Gabriel Attal, it was the best card the president could play,’ Ifop pollster Jerome Fourquet told BFM TV, pointing to his popularity.

Fourquet said Attal gained favour with the electorate thanks to taking quick action as education minister, and through his communication skills.

He is seen as a more political figure than the technocratic Borne, once labelled ‘Macron’s Iron Lady’, who stepped down on Monday.

Borne’s resignation letter to Macron, a copy of which was seen by AFP, hinted that she would have preferred to stay in her job. 

The absence of the swift announcement fuelled talk that heavy-weight government figures might be involved in intense bargaining over Attal.

However, sources close to those said to be behind the tensions, including Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, vehemently denied this when asked by reporters for France’s AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, opposition leaders were quick to say they did not expect much from the change. ‘Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal or someone else, I don’t care, it will just be the same policies,’ Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told France Inter radio. 

Nevertheless, polls have shown Attal to be the most popular government minister, and many see him as a shoo-in to take over from Macron as head of state in 2027.

If named, he would go toe-to-toe ahead of the European elections with another rising star of French politics, the even younger Jordan Bardella. At just 28, Bardella is now party leader of Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally (RN) party. 

The similarities between Attal and Macron have been well documented. 

The younger man was once seen in a video practising his lines in front of a class full of schoolmates. He was just nine when the video was shot in 1998, but saw him already discussing his future with the confidence of a star.

In this respect, the young Attal was just like his political mentor, Macron, who became president in 2017 at the age of just 39.

Macron was also a child actor – one who famously fell in love with his drama teacher and future wife, Brigitte Macron, at a Catholic school in their home town.

A former classmate of Attal’s at the private Alsatian School – one of the most prestigious in Paris, said: ‘Gabriel is like a mini-Macron, one who loves following in the footsteps of his boss. People like the clean-cut image, but Gabriel is in fact a lot more unconventional, and happy to challenge accepted values.’

Presidents of France have always been male heterosexuals who – despite a history of affairs – like to portray themselves as being committed to their wives. 

Attal is, by contrast, happily settled with his civil partner Stéphane Séjourné, the 38-year-old general secretary of Renaissance – Macron’s political party, and one that Attal has represented as an MP since 2017.

Attal and Séjourné are in a civil union – a legal arrangement similar to marriage – and share a home in Paris.

‘If Gabriel does become president, then Stéphane would be a perfect companion at the Élysée,’ a Renaissance source said in October. ‘They would be the first gay couple in the role, and a refreshing change from those who have come before.’

As expectation mounts that he could be the next Prime Minister, opinion polls have also pointed to the strong possibility of a future Attal presidency.

Macron is barred from standing again in 2027, because French heads of state are only allowed two terms in power, opening the floor to someone else to step in.

Other contenders include Le Pen and radical Leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, meaning that Attal is already being viewed as the moderate centrist.

An Ifop poll published in the second half of last year put Attal as the ‘preferred candidate’ to lead the Renaissance party in 2027.

He took over the lead in the polls from Édouard Philippe, another of Macron’s former prime ministers, and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, earning Attal the nicknames ‘Macron II’ and ‘Macron Boy’.

It is considered that Attal, who speaks good English, would impress on the world stage, and he has said he is determined to uphold the traditions of France’s secular society, one that bans any symbols that might be associated with religion.

Opponents meanwhile accused Attal of being just like Macron – a pampered rich kid who had flirted with Socialism, before focusing on their immense wealth.

Before becoming President, Macron was finance minister in a Socialist administration and had already made millions as a merchant banker.

Attal, too, was once a Socialist Party member.

Before becoming President, Macron was finance minister in a Socialist administration and had already made millions as a merchant banker, while Attal was once a Socialist Party member. 

This followed a very comfortable upbringing in Paris, with his film producer father, Yves Attal, and his mother, whose maiden name was Marie de Couriss.

She was from a white Russian background – one that escaped the 1917 Revolution – and Attal has confirmed he adopted her Russian Orthodox religion.

Despite this, he said he had also experienced anti-Semitism, because his father was a Jew.

‘I’ve suffered everything in this respect,’ said Attal. ‘Homophobia – of course. Anti-Semitism, too.’

Attal said: ‘My father told me, ‘Even if you are not Jewish – I’m Russian Orthodox through my mother – you will feel solidarity with the Jews all your life because like them you will suffer anti-Semitism because of your name.

‘There was no shortage of it. But I will never complain about it.’

Attal added: ‘On a daily basis, many anonymous people suffer discrimination every day, without benefiting from the same support and protection as me.’

Yves Attal died in 2015, meaning that his son became a millionaire overnight, due to an early inheritance that he shared with his three sisters and adopted brother.

Discussing his childhood, Attal said: ‘Yes, I went to private school. I don’t have to deny and apologise for it. People should not criticise my parents for making this choice’.

At the Alsatian college, he was known for his love of dolphins – there is a video of him giving a presentation about them – and also Paris St Germain football club.

But acting was his first love, and he appeared as the cat in Puss in Boots, and the medic in The Flying Doctor (Le Médecin Volant) by Moliére.

Attal’s meteoric rise in French politics began at the age of 23, when he joined the Socialists as an adviser at the Health Ministry under President François Hollande.

He first became a junior minister in 2018, when he was just 29, and has since held a number of key roles, including government spokesman, when he became a familiar face on French TV during the Coronavirus pandemic.

After a stint as a public accounts minister, Attal was given the high-profile education portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle in July.

He replaced Pap Ndiaye, an academic whose nomination angered Right-wing conservatives because of his woke agenda.

If Attal does win the 2027 presidential election, he will beat Macron’s record of being France’s youngest ever head of state by one year.

The expected reshuffle comes ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris and European parliament elections this summer where Macron’s centrist forces risk defeat at the hands of the far-right under Marine Le Pen.

Commentators see the reshuffle as essential to relaunch Macron’s centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a ‘lame duck’ leader after a series of crises. 

Other possible candidates to succeed Borne include 37-year-old Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and 43-year-old Julien Denormandie.  

Other key posts are also subject to uncertainty in Macron’s reshuffle, in particular that of Darmanin, 41, a right-winger said to covet the post of foreign minister held by Catherine Colonna.

Macron likes ‘keeping all options open until the last moment’, a source close to the Elysee said.

The new head of government will be the fourth prime minister since 2017 under Macron, who is accused by critics of micro-managing and centralising power.

The conservative daily Le Figaro said Borne was leaving a political situation ‘that remains as fragile as ever.

‘Changing a face at the top doesn’t change the overall picture,’ the newspaper said, adding Borne’s successor was facing ‘an overwhelming pile of political emergencies’ including the task to unite a fragmented nation.

Borne’s resignation letter to Macron, a copy of which was seen by AFP, hinted that she would have preferred to stay in her job.

‘While I must present the resignation of my government, I wanted to tell you how passionate I was about this mission,’ she wrote.

Macron thanked Borne, only the second woman to lead the French government, for ‘work in the service of our nation that has been exemplary every day’.

Under the French system, the president sets general policies and the prime minister is responsible for day-to-day government management, meaning the latter often pays the price when an administration runs into turbulence.

European Parliament elections in June will pose a major test, with Macron’s Renaissance party risking embarrassment at the hands of Le Pen’s National Rally.