France is in uproar because of a presidential candidate's breakfast error

A French presidential hopeful had a "Marie Antoinette moment" after he tried to guess the price of a single pain au chocolat.

Speaking on French radio station Europe 1, Jean-François Copé was asked by a listener if he knew the cost of the pastries (FYI it's around £1.15 and £2.10).

Taking a rather desperate stab in the dark Copé said: "I have no idea but... I think it must be around 10 or 15 centimes."

His guess drew a scandalised "oh lala" from the presenter who asked him to explain.

Copé added:

I admit I don't buy them very often because... you have to be a little careful because of the calories.

Later attempting to defend himself on Twitter, he wrote: "I confess to being very careful about my figure... so to tell you the truth I haven't eaten 'chocolatines' for a long time!" along with an image of fruit and vegetables.

This didn't really help appease the French masses on social media, and he became the top trend in France after The Walking Dead.

Controversial French YouTube comedian Rémi Gaillard replied to Copé's tweet, saying: "It would be better to confess that you don't give a damn about the real life of French people."

Twitter user @MissDabo_ pointed out that, rather ironically, Copé used to be the budget minister

Someone else blamed Brexit for what sounded like mass croissant inflation in the UK:

And this woman got excited about the prospect of a pain au chocolat party:

Copé is standing in the centre-right primary to select a candidate for next year's presidential election in France. A friend to both David Cameron and William Hague, he was behind France's 2011 ban on the niqab and full-face coverings in public areas.

He was dubbed "Sarkozilla" while Nicolas Sarkozy was president because of his obvious ambition, and will run against him again during the 2017 nomination.

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