François Bayrou is a centrist French politician who served as prime minister of France until September 8th 2025, when parliament voted to bring down his minority government over an unpopular deficit-cutting budget. It was the second time in nine months that a French government had been toppled—his predecessor, Michel Barnier, a centre-right prime minister, fell in December 2024, also over the budget. Mr Bayrou had proposed €44bn of savings in 2026 to curb the deficit to 4.6% of GDP. He was succeeded by Sébastien Lecornu. Before becoming prime minister he had been mayor of Pau for 12 years; on March 22nd 2026 he lost his bid for re-election there.
You don't have to be nice to people on the way up if you're not planning on coming back down.