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France and Britain are changing places
Europe looks leaderless at a time of mounting global threats.
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Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivering his first speech outside 10 Downing Street in London on July 5.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Gideon Rachman
Britain and France are sitting on opposite ends of a political see-saw. Three days after Britain elected a pragmatic, centrist government with a huge majority, France went to the opposite extreme. The July 7 legislative elections have produced a deadlocked Parliament, with both the far right and the far left gaining ground.
In Britain, the period of political chaos that began with the Brexit vote of 2016 may finally have ended. But in France, a prolonged period of political instability is probably just beginning.
