A BLACK OFFICIAL car swept into the courtyard of the Elysée Palace on July 8th carrying Gabriel Attal, the 35-year-old French prime minister. He went to tender his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron, as tradition dictates after a parliamentary election. This time, however, the voting a day earlier had been so inconclusive that Mr Macron asked him to stay on in a caretaker role. France has no replacement government ready, and is not yet sure how to form one.