A week after Emmanuel Macron decided to call a snap parliamentary election, the upcoming vote has turned into one of the most crucial in post-war French history. At stake at the two-round election on June 30th and July 7th is the serious possibility of a government led by the hard-right or hard-left. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) is well ahead in the polls, followed by the New Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties. Either could mean extremist politics, economic populism and financial instability. Among Mr Macron’s allies, fears are growing of a rout. “He has thrown us under a bus,” says one minister.