French Candidate Macron Meets May, Urges Expats to Return Home

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged expats in London to bring their talents home to France, following a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Addressing more than 2,000 French citizens and others at the Methodist Central Hall, opposite the Houses of Parliament, Macron said he wanted to convince them to return and "innovate, seek, teach."

"I want (France) to be a country where we can do all this," the centrist former economy minister said, addressing an audience including entrepreneurs and finance workers.

Britain is home to an estimated 300,000-plus French citizens, largely based in the capital. 

"We must love success," or risk French citizens looking elsewhere for opportunities, Macron said, referring to a "fear of failure" he sees in France.

The ex-investment banker also took the chance to joke about rival Francois Fillon, as a new poll showed Macron losing ground ahead of April's first round of the presidential election despite Fillon being mired in scandal over claims he gave his wife a lucrative fake parliamentary job. 

Macron referred to the "money I earned myself" ahead of launching his political career. "I can assure you, it's me who earned it. I had a job, it seems awful," he joked.

As well as business professionals, the audience included footballers Steve Mandanda and Yohan Cabaye, who play for the French national team and the English side Crystal Palace, Macron's campaign team told AFP.

Britain's former deputy prime minister and current Liberal Democrat MP, Nick Clegg, also went to hear Macron speak.

- Attracting UK talent -

Earlier on Tuesday Macron met with May, saying he wants London bankers and academics to move to France after Brexit.

"I want banks, talents, academics, researchers and so on. It will be part of my program to be attractive for these kinds of people," he said.

Macron, who created his own En Marche! (On the Move!) party, also slammed his far-right rival, National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

He accused her of wanting to "divide France into non-Muslim people and Muslim people," and said her "program is one to push France into the 19th century."

Opinion polls suggest Le Pen would win the first round of France's presidential election on April 23, but would lose in the run-off vote on May 7.

Macron had been the favorite to take her on, but a new Elabe survey published Tuesday suggests conservative Fillon has overtaken him again.

Despite a damaging investigation into claims that his wife netted at least 680,000 euros as a parliamentary assistant despite little evidence of her doing any work, Fillon was up three points to 21 percent, while Macron was down five to 18.5 percent.

Le Pen polled at 28 percent, up two points on the same poll in early February.

- Brexit discussions -

As he arrived for talks with May, Macron said he wanted to discuss "the relationship between France and the UK, Brexit and some very important bilateral issues."

It is unusual for a British prime minister to host a foreign candidate for elected office, although Downing Street noted that former prime minister Tony Blair had hosted Nicolas Sarkozy months before he became French president in 2007.

"Monsieur Macron was in already in London, he asked for a meeting and we were able to accommodate," May's spokesman told reporters, adding they would have a "broad range of discussions".

Asked if May would be prepared to meet Le Pen, he said: "There's a long-standing policy that we don't engage with the Front National."

Conservative leader May promised a close post-Brexit relationship with France on security and defense as she met with French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in London on Friday.