Macron tightens grip ahead of 2022 challenge

By replacing his popular prime minister with a little-known bureaucrat, French President Emmanuel Macron has signalled that he intends to tighten the reins on government ahead of a bid for reelection in 2022, analysts say. Macron anointed Jean Castex to take over from Edouard Philippe, whose popularity rose as the public face of France’s coronavirus response even as the president lost support and his party suffered a humiliating rout in local…