Emmanuel Macron, the man widely expected to be the next French president, tried to help Greece avoid crippling austerity measures but was frozen out of negotiations by Germany's Angela Merkel, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The confrontation at the height of the 2015 Greek debt crisis is revealed in “Adults in the Room”, the new memoir of Yanis Varoufakis, the controversial former Greek finance minister who tried - but failed - to win debt relief for Greece.

The episode sheds new light on the potentially awkward relationship between Mr Macron and Mrs Merkel who, polls suggest, is on track to win a record-equalling fourth term as German leader later this year.