The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will announce a new cabinet within days after his start-up centrist political movement swept to a commanding majority in parliamentary elections on a promise of renovating the country’s politics.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner told RTL radio that the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, would resign during the day as required after a parliamentary poll and be reappointed at the head of the new government “over the next few days”. Macron’s La République En Marche (La REM) party, which did not exist 16 months ago, won 350 of the 577 seats in the lower house with its centre-right ally, MoDem, securing the majority needed to push through far-reaching economic and social reforms.(guardian)…[+]