To recap: Sébastien Lecornu, the prime minister, resigned on 6 October, less than a month into his term. Lecornu threw in the towel when it became clear he could not win the support of the national assembly for his budget. His resignation provoked the collapse of the shortest-lived government in the history of the Fifth Republic. Yet, 48 hours after promising that his “mission” as prime minister was “over”, Lecornu was reinstated in an audacious move by the president Emmanuel Macron, who entrusted the now ex-PM with the same mission he had just failed at.