Michel Barnier joins long list of leaders vying to unite French centre-right

Analysis: Les Republicains face complex battle to find 2022 presidential candidate to rival Macron and Marine Le Pen

This week's declaration by Michel Barnier, the former EU chief negotiator on Brexit, that he aims to run for French president has added to the uncertainty of a crowded field of candidates competing to represent the traditional right in next spring's election.

The rightwing Les Republicains, the party of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, is facing an increasingly complex battle to identify a 2022 presidential candidate to rival the centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen, who, polls currently show, could once again face one another in the final.