He has been a French minister, an MEP, and served as the mayor of the city of Pau since 2014. French President Emmanuel Macron has named Francois Bayrou his fourth prime minister this year after Michel Barnier resigned earlier this month. Mr Barnier stepped aside after his decision to force through a social security budget caused an uproar on both sides of France‘s National Assembly. (Photo: Macron and Bayrou).

Mr Bayrou, 73, has run to be president three times – but opted to back Mr Macron in 2017 rather than run ag ain. From history teacher to education minister – Francois Bayrou was born into an agricultural family in Borderes, a village in southwestern France near the Pyrenees. His father was the village mayor, representing the Catholic MRP (Popular Republican Movement) party, but died in a tractor accident when his son was in his early 20s.

Mr Bayrou identifies as Catholic but agrees with France’s laws on a secular society. Before entering politics, he worked as a history teacher at a school in the Bearn region. He has written several books, including a biography of France’s King Henri IV. He speaks the local Bearnese language and is a supporter of the regional movement. He entered politics in his early 30s, beginning his career as a councillor for the Pyrynees-Atlantiques region in 1982 before taking a parliamentary seat in the National Assembly in 1986.

At this point, he was part of the centre-right Union for the French Democracy party (UDF). When the UDF won the 1993 legislative elections and went into coalition with the Conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, Mr Bayrou got his first ministerial job as education minister – during Francois Mitterand’s presidency. Despite endorsing his previous boss, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, in the next presidential election – Mr Bayrou was allowed to remain education minister when Jacques Chirac beat Mr Balladur and Alain Juppe became prime minister in 1995. (Photo: PM Bayrou).

When his party suffered badly in the 1997 legislative elections, Mr Bayrou returned to opposition and became its leader – before a stint as a member of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2002. 2007 presidential bid proves to be most successful – He ran for president for a second time in 2007. Ultimately, he finished third in the first round with 19% of the vote – which would later prove to be his strongest result.

After the election, he set up a new centrist party – the Democratic Movement (MoDem). It came third in the legislative elections of that year but Mr Bayrou was unseated in the following legislative elections in 2012. His third bid for the presidency came the same year but was short-lived – and he was eliminated in the first round with considerably fewer votes than his previous attempt. He became mayor of the city of Pau, in southwestern France, in 2014.

When Emmanuel Macron was elected on his new, centrist En Marche ticket in 2017, Mr Bayrou decided to back him instead of running himself. Mr Macron rewarded him with the job of justice minister – but he was quickly forced to resign amid an investigation into the MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds. He was cleared of those accusations earlier this year – but eight others were found guilty and the party was ordered to pay a fine.

Courtesy: Sky News