While Emmanuel Macron appears increasingly isolated in Europe over his ambitious plans to reform the eurozone, he is succeeding in advancing his domestic agenda. But what, exactly, does this amount to? At home, his opponents have dubbed him Margaret Macron or Emmanuel Thatcher. Abroad, his showdown with the rail unions has been depicted as his “Thatcher moment”: a test of whether France’s homme de fer can face down striking workers and shake up the country.

On the streets Mr Macron is indeed facing the stiffest test yet of his will to “unblock” France. But, in inspiration, the French president is closer to a first-term Tony Blair than to Thatcher — and would probably dislike the comparison to either former UK prime minister.

It is understandable that his critics depict Mr Macron as a red-blooded capitalist. A former investment banker at Rothschild, trained at the country’s top institutions, he embodies the rootless globalising elite. Today, the left accuses him of dismantling France’s cherished social model. Last month, Forbes magazine put the French president on its cover under the title “Leader of the free markets”.