A minor political earthquake took place in Paris on Tuesday morning, when France’s environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, dramatically quit his position live on France Inter, which is sort of the French equivalent of Radio 4’s Today programme.

Appearing to literally make the decision in an agonising pause between questions, he declared: “I can’t lie to myself anymore, I don’t want my presence in government to give the illusion that we are on top of things. I therefore take the decision to leave the government.” His line was clear: he did not want to legitimise a government that, in his eyes, was failing to live up to its environmental obligations.

Other government ministers reacted with shock upon hearing the news. The secretary of state for equality, Marlene Schiappa, asked incredulously whether it was a joke when she was informed of his resignation during a live TV interview. La Macronie – the term used to describe the political galaxy ruled by President Emmanuel Macron – is not accustomed to rebellion.

Yet Macron’s government is one that, for many, is indeed not “on top of things”, whether it was France’s silly summer story of the president’s bodyguard moonlighting as a thug and beating up May Day protesters, or the more serious criticism in June from leading economist Jean Pisani-Ferry that Macron’s government is not doing enough to tackle growing inequality.

Equally, the challenges that France will face in the months to come would be enough to give any government sleepless nights. Its push for a unified European finance policy has been rebuffed by the deadlocked Germans and the reluctant Dutch, while an Italian government led by a neo-fascist tears at the soul of Europe, refusing to cooperate on integration and threatening to block the next EU budget.

The time bomb at the heart of the European project is, of course, Britain’s scheduled exit next March. While Macron has held the official line with the EU on Brexit, saying on Tuesday that Europe must remain united at all costs, the reality is that France would be one of the worst afflicted countries if Britain were to crash out. The prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has begun contingency planning for a scenario that would see France’s GDP suffer a 2 per cent drop, with fishing and automobile industries in the north of the country decimated.

While Macron remains master of all he surveys, he appears powerless to push for European reform during twin economic and political crises. He stands in the eye of a perfect storm for multilateralism where his environment minister storms off for fear of failing to achieve goals set in Paris in 2015, where the American president rejects free trade with Europe and where xenophobic, populist governments threaten the heart of European idealism.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: “We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries – nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. “And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union.” Ms Jenkyn’s also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliament’s influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of “unbalanced” reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: “As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commission’s sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. “At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. “I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.” He went on to argue that the “general direction” of Ms May’s policies would leave the UK “in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one”. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Davis’s main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as ”courageous and principled” by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: “I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on.” Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did “not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide”. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: “The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. “The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn.” PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: “I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. “I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10.” PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: “I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. “I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form.” Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

Depending on perspective, the shock resignation of a popular environment minister is either the final nail in the coffin of a beleaguered uncompromising government, or merely another obstacle in the way of a dynamic president whose plan to reform France and Europe will soldier on.

As someone who worked on Macron’s campaign, I remain confident that his challenges are not insurmountable. Friedrich Hegel once said that a great man is capable of defining his era. He is a leader who comes around once in a generation, like Franklin D Roosevelt or Helmut Kohl, whose energy and ideas inspire and enrage in equal measure.

France is already seeing the benefits of his leadership, with companies such as Uber and BlackRock expanding in the hexagon as a result of his "human capital" investment and business-friendly policies.

The picture of the "Sun King" president reciting Molière’s Misanthrope, or defending his policies in person in front of angry factory workers, is enough in itself to make an American or a Brit weep with envy. Perhaps, as Alceste declared in Misanthrope, “betrayed and wronged in everything, [they will] flee this bitter world where vice is king.”