Who is Jean-Luc Melenchon? France's 'Jeremy Corbyn' promising huge £125bn spending spree
Jean-Luc Melenchon is committed to increasing public spending by £125 billion should he form a government.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the left-winger who has spearheaded the New Popular Front to an unexpected election success this weekend, is a close pal of Jeremy Corbyn who is frequently compared to the ex-Labour Party leader.
Mr Corbyn himself wasted little time in singing the praises of the loose coalition - while taking a thinly veiled swipe at recently elected UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
As well Mr Corbyn, who was on Thursday elected as an independent MP for Islington North, 72-year-old Mr Melenchon is a fan of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
An accomplished and confident public speaker who refuses to use a teleprompter or notes, he frequently rails against the evils of “extreme markets that transform suffering, misery and abandonment into gold and money”.
He has in the past described France as a country “with huge wealth that is badly distributed”.
The son of a post office worker and a teacher, both of who were the descendants of Spaniards and Italians who moved to French Algeria at the turn of the 20th century, Mr Melenchon was born in Tangier, now Morocco, when it was an international zone.
He moved to France at the age of 11, studied philosophy, worked as a journalist became involved in Trotskyist politics.
Joining the Socialist Party in 1976 at the age of 25, he was elected to several regional, national and European legislative positions.
He was deputy head of the Essonne region, south of Paris, from 1998 to 2004, as well as being a junior minister in the Ministry of Education from 2000 to 2002.
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He split with the Socialist Party in 2008, describing it as too business-friendly. Eight years later, he founded France Unbowed and in 2022 he ran for president – for the third time.
He has vowed to increase public spending by a whopping £125 billion (€150 billion) should he be successful in forming an administration.
Even if the alliance in which he is one of the highest profile figures lacks the votes to govern alone, it is guaranteed to demand new spending commitments from Mr Macron to form a new administration.
Speaking last night he said: “With their ballots, the majority made a new choice for the country. The will of the people must be strictly respected."
Mr Corbyn was quick to offer his take on the situation on X, posting: "France’s extraordinary election results provide an urgent, valuable lesson."
In a clear swipe at Sir Keir, he added: "Don’t concede ground to those who sow division and fear. Build a bold Left movement that offers an alternative of inclusion and hope. That is how you defeat the far right."
In 2015, during a visit to the Labour Party conference after Mr Corbyn won the party’s leadership, Mr Melenchon described his friend as “unique in Europe” because “it’s only the case in which an alternative has arisen within a socialist party and won.”
Paris was the scene of fierce clashes between left-wing demonstrators and riot police last night, with clips showing flares being hurled and officers wading in with batons.