Edouard Philippe, Mr Macron’s former prime minister and a potential successor in the 2027 presidential election, appeared to suggest it would be better if Mr Macron kept out of the race altogether.

“I’m not sure it’s entirely healthy for the president of the republic to run a legislative campaign,” he said on BFM TV on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, Mr Macron insisted he was merely setting out a “line” and would pass over to his popular 35-year-old prime minister Gabriel Attal, who will lead the legislative campaign.

Resignation rumours

He ruled out debating against Ms Le Pen, whom he said dreamed of a “rematch” of the presidential elections she twice lost to him, and dismissed “rumours” he would resign if his party’s alliance lost as “absurd”.

“I hope that when the time comes, men and women of goodwill who will have been able to say no to the extremes will come together … will put themselves in a position to build a shared, sincere project that is useful to the country,” he said.

The French had expressed “anger”, he said, but were aware that RN’s policies and those of the hard-Left were totally unfeasible.

Mr Macron also lashed out at conservative Republicans over Mr Ciotti’s attempt to form an alliance with the National Rally, calling it a “pact with the devil”.

The Right had “in a few hours turned its back on the legacy of General de Gaulle” as well as former presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, he said.

The Republicans were in disarray on Wednesday as its politburo announced they had fired Mr Ciotti after an emergency meeting, only for him to announce minutes later that he was staying put and calling the committee’s decision “a flagrant violation of our statutes” that was illegal and void

As the row erupted, Mr Ciotti closed the party’s headquarters near the National Assembly due to “security fears”.