We now have strong and stable leadership — but in France, not Britain. Theresa May, Britain’s prime minister, will enter the Brexit negotiations gravely weakened after the UK general election. By contrast, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, is poised to emerge from legislative elections with the huge parliamentary majority that Mrs May once dreamt of.

The two leaders will meet for dinner in Paris on Tuesday night. There are some fond hopes in the Remain camp in Britain that the combination of a weak May and a strong Macron may help to get Britain off the hook of a hard Brexit. But that is unlikely. The French president has little incentive to help the UK out of the mess it is in, even if that were possible. Indeed, for President Macron, Brexit is looking increasingly like a historic opportunity rather than a cause for regret.

Mr Macron’s programme for the revival of France has the EU at its heart. On the night of his election victory, the president took to the stage to the strains of the European anthem, “Ode to Joy”. But his vision of a revitalised France, inside a revitalised EU, actually works better if Brexit proceeds uninterrupted.