French President Emmanuel Macron | Gonzalo Fuentes/AFP via Getty Images French conservatives push for no-confidence vote in Macron ‘The government has failed,’ says senior member of Les Républicains as Benalla scandal rumbles on.

France's conservative Les Républicains party on Tuesday announced plans for a motion of no confidence in Emmanuel Macron's government, which has been under pressure since footage emerged of the president's top bodyguard assaulting a protester.

"The government has failed," Christian Jacob, leader of the Les Républicains' lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, told reporters. "There is a real drift at the highest levels of the government and the government allowed this [to happen], even though it was responsible for stopping it — and we want an explanation."

Alexandre Benalla, who was Macron’s security chief during his presidential campaign and later became an assistant chief of staff at the Elysée, was filmed wearing street clothes and police gear while assaulting a protester during pro-labor demonstrations on May 1.

The affair is the biggest challenge Macron has faced since he took office in 2017, with senior ministers and government officials set to face lawmakers on Tuesday for a second day of questioning over allegations of a “cover-up” by the presidential palace.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday criticized opposition parties for wanting to spark a government crisis. "The opposition does not want the truth, it wants a crisis," he said during a closed-door meeting of members of Marcon's La République en Marche party, according to BFMTV.

"We are not trying to bring down the government," Jacob said in response. "We want the government to explain itself."

Les Républicains have not officially proposed the motion of no confidence.

Macron has not yet publicly commented on the scandal.