Emmanuel Macron promises to learn from David Cameron's Brexit mistakes

French presidential candidate tells crowd in London he would ‘defend the special relationship between Great Britain and Europe’

'We must believe in Europe, love Europe and breathe Europe', Mr Macron said (EPA)

Emmanuel Macron, the centrist candidate currently favourite to win the upcoming French presidential election, made the case for a “communal European politics”, and said he would learn from the failure of David Cameron’s Remain campaign, in a speech in London on Tuesday night.

“We must believe in Europe, love Europe and breathe Europe”, he said to a 3,500 strong crowd made up of French expatriates as well as British politicians including Nick Clegg.

The crowd at Westminster Central Hall booed loudly when the 39-year-old candidate joked about Boris Johnson being one of his inspirations for visiting the United Kingdom. “Never boo or hiss at my rallies. That is for people with no hope”, he insisted.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg drew parallels between Mr Macron’s En Marche movement and the Liberal Democrats’ “universal liberal set of beliefs”.

Speaking to The Independent, he said: “I think in Emmanuel Macron we have possibly the only figure who could use a mandate as a newly elected president of France to help reform and strengthen the European Union at a time when it’s under great threat from President Trump, from Putin and from internal dissent. A lot rides on his shoulders.”

Mr Macron, who met with Theresa May and Philip Hammond earlier in the day, discussed how he would handle Brexit negotiations were he to be elected President.

“The strategy we must follow is to defend the special relationship between Great Britain and Europe and more specifically between Europe and France. Our interests lie in attracting added value and talent to France as a result of Brexit, but also in having a balanced relationship with Great Britain. We must not sacrifice the short term for our bilateral relationship.”

But the UK should not be granted access to the single market without respecting the four freedoms of the EU, including the free movement of people, Mr Macron said.

He also said the Touquet agreements governing the border between Britain and France would have to be made fairer.

Brexit and the election of Donald Trump represents a “revolt of the middle classes” who “did not see the pudding or the beef” of globalisation, Mr Macron said. “With the United States disengaging from international security, a weakened multilateral order and authoritarianism in regional powers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, we must protect citizens”.

Mr Macron also focused on French domestic politics after a few difficult days in which he has made controversial statements about gay rights and France’s colonial history. He praised the British culture of entrepreneurship, comparing it favourably with France’s rigid labour laws which he gained notoriety for challenging in his role as Socialist Economy minister from 2014 to 2016. “In France we can only succeed a little, unambitiously.”

Daniel Decombe, a 49-year-old European Director of a Lebanese lighting firm, is French and lives in Hampstead. He was inspired by the rally: “What interests me about Macron is how new his ideas are. He doesn’t come from the world of politics.”

Macron described his Socialist opponent Benoît Hamon’s radical universal credit proposition of €750 a month as “the revenue of defeat”, and defended his own record as an outsider. “I am proud of my immaturity and political inexperience”.

His appeal to France’s young people was underlined by the evening’s army of young helpers dressed in baseball caps and skinny jeans. Their white t-shirts bore the slogan ‘En Marche’ or ‘Let’s Get Going’, with which Macron has galvanised the support of 10,000 outside France, including many of London’s 300,000 strong French community.