French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed 34-year-old education minister Gabriel Attal as his new prime minister.
Mr Attal rose to prominence as a government spokesperson, then education minister and had polled as the most popular minister in the outgoing government.
His appointment comes after his predecessor, Elisabeth Borne, resigned on Monday after turmoil over an immigration law that strengthens the French government’s ability to deport foreigners.
Here are five things you should know about Mr Attal...
Record-holder
At 34, Gabriel Attal is France's youngest post-war prime minister, a record previously held by the leftist Laurent Fabius, who was 37 when he was named prime minister by Francois Mitterrand in 1984.
Outed
Mr Attal is France's first openly gay prime minister. He was outed by an old school associate in 2018 when he was named a junior minister during Mr Macron's first mandate.
At the time, Attal was in a relationship with Stephane Sejourne, Mr Macron's former political adviser.
Rise
Mr Attal joined the Socialist Party when he was 17. He became a household name in French politics after being named government spokesperson during the pandemic. He would later be named as a junior minister in the finance ministry and then education minister in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Mr Macron's savviest cabinet ministers and a smooth communicator.
Abaya ban
Mr Attal's first move following his appointment as education minister last year was to ban the Muslim abaya dress in state schools, earning himself a popularity boost among many conservative voters despite his hailing from the left.
Bullied
Mr Attal recently went on a famous TV show to tell the story of how he was bullied in middle school by a former classmate, who he said shamed him on a blog created to rate classmates' physiques during the early days of the Internet revolution.
