As Emmanuel Macron enjoys a substantial poll lead ahead of April’s French presidential vote, his opponents are trying to capitalise on revelations that spending on consultancy firms soared to nearly €1 billion during his presidency. But the controversy looks unlikely to torpedo his re-election campaign.
Just over five years ago the upstart ex-economy minister Macron surfed to the top of the polls and rode that wave all the way into the Élysée Palace after a financial impropriety scandal kiboshed conservative frontrunner François Fillon.
