As a member of the Renaissance party, Attal rapidly rose up the political ranks following his election to the National Assembly in June 2017.

On 9 January 2024, amid a major government crisis, he was appointed by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to replace Élisabeth Borne as prime minister.

Attal led the ruling Ensemble coalition into the 2024 legislative election which resulted in another hung parliament and electoral defeat for the government.

[6] Taking up a place at Sciences Po in 2007, he created a committee for the support of Íngrid Betancourt, the Franco-Colombian hostage held by the FARC.

[7] After an internship at the French National Assembly with Marisol Touraine during the 2012 presidential campaign, Attal worked for five years as an assistant to the Minister of Health, a role which involved parliamentary liaison and speechwriting.

[9] Attal was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency, winning out over the designated successor of André Santini.

[11] As a deputy of the National Assembly, he became a member of the Committee on Cultural and Education Affairs, where he served as whip of the group La République En Marche!.

[24] Lacking a parliamentary majority as a result of the 2022 legislative election, Attal formed a minority government, the second one since the start of the Macron Presidency.

He appointed what was widely described as the most right-leaning cabinet since Macron took office, with over half of his senior ministers previously coming from the conservative UMP/LR party.

[27][b] On 16 January 2024, Attal announced that, like Élisabeth Borne before him, he would not be seeking a vote of confidence in the National Assembly as implicitly allowed in the French Constitution.

[33] Attal offered his resignation to the president the following morning, only for it to be refused by Macron, who asked him to stay on for the time being in order to maintain the stability of the country.

[36] Macron formally accepted Attal's resignation on 16 July 2024, but at the same time asked him to remain in place as head of a caretaker government.

At the handover ceremony the following day, Attal made a speech in which he expressed his frustration at having had only eight months in office – too little time to see any of his plans come to fruition.

Genealogists have found both French and Russian nobility, including members of the La Forest-Divonne family in France and the House of Golitsyn in Russia, amongst her ancestors.