Where it all went wrong for Macron: How France turned to the right after president failed to tackle migration, Islamic terror attacks, cost of living crisis - and infuriated the public with his arroga

Jordan Bardella, the protégé of hard-right leader Marine Le Pen, declared last week during a pre-election debate that France is tired of 'seven years of Macronism'. President Macron has gambled and failed in his attempt to knock out the populist right with his shock election which has seen his party hammered at the polls Marine Le Pen, Rassemblement National party candidate, reacts on stage after partial results in the first round of the early French parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 30, 2024 People demonstrate on the streets as May Day protests coincide with weeks of public outrage over a pension-reform law that increased the country's retirement age from 62 to 64, on May 1, 2023 in Paris, France Police are seen at the site where teacher Samuel Paty was stabbed to death and beheaded by an Islamic extremist refugee in 2020 A migrant prays at an abandoned warehouse turned migrant camp in Calais, northern France, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 Marine Le Pen, the candidate for the National Rally party, with supporters at the end of the French election day in Paris, France, 01 July 2024 National Rally party president Jordan Bardella, right, leaves with leader Marine Le Pen after a press conference, Monday, June 24, 2024 in Paris Immigration and extremism The National Front is largely seen as a hard-right party at home and abroad - but its own members are loath to refer to themselves as such. French President Emmanuel Macron leaves after paying his respects by the coffin of Samuel Paty in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event, October 2020 Crowds gathered at Place de la Sorbonne to watch the National Tribute to the murdered school teacher Samuel Paty led by French president Emmanuel Macron on October 21, 2020 in Paris A photograph of history and geography teacher Samuel Paty as seen at his tribute ceremony in Eragny-sur-Oise, northwestern Paris Mohammed Mogouchkov, a 20-year-old Chechen refugee, stabbed a French schoolteacher to death and injured two other people in a knife attack at a school in Arras in northern Francelast year Bardella himself has declared he will wage a 'cultural battle' against Islam if his party emerges victorious from parliamentary elections. RN leader Marine Le Pen reacts as she meets supporters and journalists after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France Protestors light a fire with electric bikes in front of the Hotel de Ville during a demonstration after France's Constitutional Council approved the key elements of French President's pension reform, in Paris on April 14, 2023 A photograph shows the frontage of a police station on fire during a demonstration, after France's Constitutional Council approved the key elements of French President's pension reform, in Rennes, western France, on April 14, 2023 A protester throws a tear gas canister during clashes with police during a demonstration after France's Constitutional Council approved the key elements of a pension reform, in Nantes, western France, on April 14, 2023 French National Rally party President Jordan Bardella poses prior to a debate broadcasted on French TV channel TF1 In an attempt to assuage the French people's concerns over the economy Prime Minister Gabriel Attal last week declared the government would lower energy bills, soften inheritance tax and link pensions to inflation to ease the strain on household finances if the Macron alliance remains in power after July 7. Le Pen shakes hands with President Emmanuel Macron after talks at the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris, on June 21, 2022 Marine Le Pen, member of parliament and French far-right National Rally party leader, arrives at the RN party headquarters in Paris, France, July 1, 2024 French far-right National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was expelled from the party by his own daughter in 2015 FILE PHOTO: French far-right party Front national President and candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen is greeted by her father, FN honorary president, Jean-Marie Le Pen at the end of a campaign meeting on March 30, 2012 in Nice, southeastern France Under her watch, the National Front climbed down from some of its extreme-right positions and Le Pen herself went out of her way to criticise anti-Semitism in France in an attempt to break with the party's reputation as Holocaust deniers.