If you believe the polls – and after last year's seismic democratic shocks, you'd be forgiven for doing the opposite – Emmanuel Macron is on track to become France's next president.
The 39-year old is an anomaly in the country's politics, a former banker who resigned from Socialist President François Hollande's government in 2016 to launch his En Marche! (On the Move!) political movement.
As Philip Boucher Hayes pointed out in his profile of Macron for Drivetime, he has arrived with "a perfectly timed message for a world reeling from Trump and Brexit; anti-establishment, anti-elite, anti-fossilised ideology of political parties, yet optimistic."
But at the same time, Macron is a kaleidoscope of contradiction: a liberal who wants a strong state; he rose as a technocrat but has triumphed as a politician; he called his autobiography 'Revolution!, but he's the product of elite political grooming and a career in investment banking."
"Will the real Emmanuel Macron please stand up?"
You can listen back to Philip's full profile above.
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