Rising without Trace

At 34 Gabriel Attal is the youngest Prime Minister in French history. He has seemingly risen without trace: from privileged education, straight into a politics job.

Here’s his CV:
– Went to one of the poshest high schools in Paris (École Alsacienne)
– Graduated university (Sciences Po) in Paris in 2012 with a Master of Public Affairs
– Worked a menial job (parliamentary liaison) for five years at the Ministry of Health
– Became an MP in 2017 of a small posh constituency in greater Paris
– Since he is arguably a good public speaker he was made spokesperson of La République En Marche! (Macron’s party) in January 2018
– October 2018: appointed Secrétaire d’État (junior minister) to the Minister of National Education and Youth
– 2020: he became the government spokesperson
– May 2022: he became Minister of Public Action and Accounts
– July 2023: appointed Minister of National Education and Youth
– January 2024: Prime Minister
(Source: Arnaud Bertand – not utterly reliable, but reliable enough for this info).

According to the BBC: “It was in this post [Minister of Education] that Mr Attal confirmed to the president that he has what it takes, acting with no-nonsense determination to end September’s row over Muslim abaya robes by simply banning them in schools.” And now he wants to impose school uniforms over all France, very much trying to tack to the authoritarian right.