Whatever happened to Michel Barnier? As the head of the EU negotiating team on Brexit, the patrician Frenchman became famous for his insistence that the EU must never deviate from its core principles — including the supremacy of European law and the free movement of people.

Now Brexit is done and Barnier has moved on. He is running for the presidency of France and has adopted many of the ideas he once rejected. Supremacy of EU law? Barnier now has his doubts. Immigration? Barnier is calling for a moratorium of up to five years. The European ideal? Barnier warns that Germany has become too powerful within the EU.

One possible explanation for this curious volte face is that the former EU commissioner has reflected deeply on the Brexit negotiations and decided that the Brexiters had a point. An alternative theory is that Barnier has reflected deeply on his own ambition to be president of France — and has decided that the shortest route to power involves a sharp right turn, followed by a swift reversal over his own principles.